NEW DELHI: Media barons Rupert Murdoch and Subhash Chandra believe that the rules of television are changing as consumer demands change with the advent of digital media.
So does Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati, which manages the world' biggest terrestrial network Doordarshan and its sibling All India Radio.
Three Doordarshan channels would now be available on all 3G mobile phones globally from April-end, according to a senior executive of Prasar Bharati.
"We have tied up with First Serve Entertainment (former Indian tennis star Vijay Amritraj's US-based company) to make available DD National, DD Bharati and DD News on all 3G mobile handsets all over the world Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma said today.
The agreement with FSE is non-exclusive, leaving Prasar Bharati to enter into similar deals with other companies. However, the revenue generated from this distribution pact would be shared equally between FSE and DD, Sarma added.
DD launches SMS & IVR-based services
DD has also joined hands with ACL Wireless Ltd to launch SMS (short text messages sent over cell phones) and IVR-based interactive services.
The services will be available over the short code 676733 where the last two digits, 33, stand for DD.
As part of this partnership, DD launched an SMS-based news service, adding to the other interactive services that it has via ACLs India6767 platform.
ACL Wireless Ltd, a developer and provider of cutting-edge wireless solutions for consumers and enterprises, has won this contract from DD for a period of three years.
Under the contract, ACL will design, install and manage the services, which, in turn, will be made available to more than 400 million viewers of DD across the country.
ACL offers this service through a fully-hosted multi-modal platform, which is connected to all mobile operators in India. "The DD tie-up is significant as it further consolidates our presence in the wireless domain," according to ACL Wireless president Atanu Mandal.
DD has used ACLs services for a variety of programmes like contest during cricket matches and in shows like Super Hit Muqabla, Wheel Smart Shrimati, Gen Next and Total Health.
According to DD, interactivity is being proposed to be extended to subjects like stock market alerts, board exam results, video clips of news headlines and SMS-based greetings service for DD News users.
