Prasar Bharati to launch an English news channel

Prasar Bharati will soon launch an English news and current affairs channel as a new year's gift for the global audience.

According to official sources, the news channel, named as DD India International, was initially planned for a launch on January 9, 2018 to mark the 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.'

However, the public broadcaster later postponed the date in view of some incomplete preparatory exercise.

"A soft run of the upcoming English news channel is on. It will be launched as early as possible," official sources told DH.

The new current affairs and news channel has been created by "repositioning" the DD India, one of the existing channels of Doordarshan.

"Pursuant to the Board's decision in the 142nd meeting held on May 1, 2017 for repositioning DD India to an English news and current affairs channel for domestic and international audiences and launching it in a time-bound manner, it has been decided that the channel operations would be handled by the DG (director general) DD news with immediate effect," read an office memorandum issued by Prasar Bharati on Thursday.

All personnel and resources deployed at DD India would continue to remain in their position as per extant arrangement with reporting to DG DD News, the public broadcaster's office order added.

Sources said that preparations for the launch are on a full swing.

"The rollout of the channel will be a new year gift to the people of India and the audiences across the world. It's an effort to tell India's story to the global audience from an  Indian perspective," sources told DH.

The DD News is currently a bilingual channel as it airs news and current affairs programmes both in English and Hindi.

Proposal for the  launch of India's global news platform on the lines of the BBC was in the making for last few years.