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NEW
DELHI: The Government today said there were no plans to bifurcate
Prasar Bharati in an attempt to make it manageable or financially
viable.
Information
and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told this to
Parliament in reply to a question about reports appearing
in the media that the public broadcaster would be split into
various divisions.
Media
reports had indicated that either the public broadcaster would
be split into two - one Asset Corporation, which will hold
all assets, and a Programming & Broadcasting Corporation,
which will oversee programming and other operations. Reports
had also speculated that the pubcaster would retain the assets
and operations of Doordarshan and programming and operation
of All India Radio (AIR) with Prasar Bharati, while leaving
the assets of AIR with the government.
Meanwhile,
Prasar Bharati sources told Indiantelevision.com that the
Group of ministers (GoM) set up to examine various issues
pertaining to Prasar Bharati is not considering bifurcation
but is only considering other ways of restructuring the public
broadcaster to make it financially viable.
This
comes at a time when Prasar Bharati has accumulated a revenue
deficit of about Rs 40 billion over the past five years.
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