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AIR’s overseas digital service in August

All India Radio will kick-start its digital radio service to countries in West-Asia and Africa starting from August 1. For this purpose Prasar Bharati has entered into an agreement with Washington-based Worldspace Corporation for transponder space on its Afristar satellite.

As part of the arrangement, Worldspace will also offer uplinking facility at Johannesburg, South Africa. AIR will use VSNL’s service for connecting its New Delhi broadcasting house to the uplink station at Johannesburg. Talks are also on with Worldspace for making India an uplinking hub for the Asia region. The new technology, which will run simultaneously in the current analogue mode, would carry AIR’s Hindi, Arabic and general overseas service.

According to Prasar Bharati chief executive officer R.R. Shah, the digital service is targeted at the Indian diaspora and is expected to reach the over one million-strong NRI population in parts of Africa and West-Asia. AIR officials said the service could be availed off through a special receiver and would ensure greater clarity in programme reception without distortions or fading effect.

The new technology will cost Prasar Bharati $1.5 lakh per year, an official said. International players which are also using Worldspace’s platform to deliver digital radio service include CNN and BBC. Shah said the reception quality of AIR’s programme would match that of international players. Worldspace Corporation president Harold Adams said, with launch of this service India would join a select group of countries which had digital radio broadcasting. He said that with the launch of Asiastar in July this year and Ameristar in 2001, AIR’s services would be able to increase their reach to North America and the Caribbean Islands which had sizable populations of people of Indian origin. He said that up to 600 channels could be broadcast simultaneously through the transponders presently available to Worldspace.

Adams said the receivers at present were available in the range of $120 to $175, but the prices were expected to drop as the demand increased. He said the main manufacturers included Hitachi, Sanyo, Panasonic and JVC. However talks were also on with several Indian companies to manufacture digital receivers within the country. Adams said AIR had the wherewith-all to offer uplinking facilities for digital broadcasting in the Asian region, and talks to set up hub in India were on.

S. D.