India’s national public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has floated a tender for a consultant to come up with a plan to launch a channel with an international presence.
According to Prasar Bharati officials, the tender is not a knee-jerk reaction and the idea has existed for a long time.
The invitation for Expression of Interest was floated on May 13 for a consultancy service to come up with a detailed project report “on the establishment of DD International”.
The EOI stated: “In view of the strategic objective to build a global presence for Doordarshan and to establish an international voice for India, it is envisaged to establish DD International”.
Further, it said that the EOI “is being issued for a Detailed Project Report (DPR) from reputed global consultants with experience in advising international broadcasters/media houses on projects of this nature”.
According to the tender, the objective is to “project India’s point of view globally on contemporary issues of both global and domestic significance” and to “tell the India Story to a global audience”. It also intends DD International to be the “authoritative global media source on India through credible, exhaustive and accurate global news service”.
From the tender, it appears that Prasar Bharati intends to set up bureaus “across the globe” and the consultant will have to identify locations, plan a roadmap, and also come up with plans for “24×7 world service streams” and “prioritising geography-specific streams”. Prasar Bharati also wants a strategy roadmap for “a Global News Service based on DD India content”.
Surjitt Sahani
