India’s largest public broadcasting company Prasar Bharati has big plans for narrating the India story to the world. A committee headed by Prasar Bharati Chairman Surya Prakash has given recommendations to the Information and Broadcast Minister establish a digital channel that will be the global face of India.
“There is a disjunction between how the global community and global media perceives India. If we have our own platform and tell our story to the world, a certain correction will happen,” he says.
Surya Prakash gives examples like the IPL, which is the most sought after format of Cricket today. Another story worth talking about, according to him is that of governance in India. “How we govern a country as large as ours, is worth talking about. And I believe that if we can tell this story to the world, it could be a template of good governance for many other nations,” he adds.
Prakash believes that on the media side, they have some phenomenal editorial experience. And with that experience and understanding, Prasar Bharati will be able to set the tone of the global narrative about India.
However, how long it will take for this digital platform to become a reality is not known yet. As per the committee’s report, the platform will not entirely be under Prasar Bharati’s domain.
With minimal government involvement, a public-private partnership of sort could be formed to run this platform, which will also determine how it will be funded. The idea is to create an appropriate corporate structure and give it financial autonomy, he says.
According to the committee’s recommendation, this platform will have a running cost of around Rs. 75 crore a year. The content created will be distributed on different platforms like websites, mobile app and YouTube and will be accessible across the world.
While the chairman did not divulge further details on the digital platforms in terms of when it will become a reality, some reports suggest that the objective of this channel will be to reach 10 million-100 million page views a month, and a million mobile app downloads and YouTube subscribers each in three years.