The Government of India has approved the SWAYAM Prabha project which aims to operate 32 Direct to Home (DTH) channels to provide educational content to teachers, students and other citizens. The channels are expected to launch before September this year. The project will initially launch in English, but the Ministry of Human Resource Development plans to add programs in regional languages as well. The channels will cover different subjects for 4 hours everyday, with lessons being repeated 6 times a day. The curriculum based courses will include classes in arts, science, commerce, performing arts, social sciences, humanities subjects, engineering, technology, law, medicine and agriculture. The channels will likely be available over Doordarshan’s free DTH service FreeDish. Note that the Government owned broadcaster had said in January this year that it would carry 112 channels by March. FreeDish is a free to air (FTA) DTH service, which recently added Big Magic to its service last month, after an initial run with the DTH service before. In its 25th e-auction for FreeDish, DD raised its reserve price to Rs 4.3 crore. The auction was held in January to help DD achieve its target of 112 channels. Prior to this, the reserve price was Rs 3.7 crore per slot and lower in the previous years. Other developments: - In November last year, the government increased FDI to 100% for the DTH industry, cable networks, mobile TV and Head-in-the-sky businesses. However, it permitted FDI up to 49% through the automatic route, following which it…
