Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore on Tuesday launched 'Sharing of All India Radio News with Private FM channels in New Delhi, under which private FM channels will now be allowed to broadcast All India Radio news in English and Hindi.
According to the facility, the FM channels will have to carry the AIR news in an unaltered format and the service will be available free of cost on a trial basis till May 31 2019.
During the trial period, private FM broadcasters may avoid broadcasting in disturbed or border and Naxal-affected areas.
Rathore said the move empowers citizens. "This empowers me as a citizen. What else does a democracy need? We should be able to make our citizens aware and empowered. This was approved much before and I would like to congratulate the Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials for the nudge," he said.
He said the All India Radio and the Prasar Bharati were in discussion on costs.
"Our priority is awareness among citizens and secondary is revenue generation. We have made it available free of cost so that there are no further delays," he added.
He said now that people will be listening to announcers from the All India Radio on different FM channels, it is also an occasion for the Prasar Bharati and the All India Radio to step up.
Any private FM broadcaster which intends to broadcast the news bulletins will first have to register with the News Services Division: All India Radio on its website.
The commercials which are broadcast during news bulletins shall also have to be carried along with the news too.
The private FM broadcasters will have to give due credit to the AIR for sourcing their news and will have to carry AIR news bulletins either simultaneously or deferred live by not more than 30 minutes.
In case of deferred live, an announcement should precede that it is a deferred live broadcast.
Union Information and Broadcasting secretary Amit Khare, CEO, Prasar Bharati, Shashi Shekhar Vempati and DG, AIR F Sheheryar were among those present at the event.
