Mumbai, Nov 17 (IANS): Stating that Prasar Bharati had entered into a collaboration with IIT-Kanpur, where a pilot project was underway to work out the feasibility of direct-to-mobile broadcasting, Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said on Wednesday that if this effort was successful, smartphones would be able to receive broadcast content in the near future.

Speaking at the 10th CII Big Picture Summit, which is being livestreamed online, Vempati said in his keynote address, "In the event of a high-viewership event such as the IPL, there is no reason why millions of users need to receive that content on a unicast mode through the Internet. If this works, all of that content can be delivered directly on broadcast frequencies to the people on their smartphones or smart TVs."

The CEO pointed out that digitisation was one of the key changes that had taken place over the last three or four years since he had joined the public broadcaster.

"Practically every Doordarshan channel and All India Radio station now has a digital presence spanning multiple platforms, be it YouTube for livestreaming or on social media to engage with the audience," he said, and added that the Prasar Bharati app, which has 200-plus radio streams, was one of a kind in the world, for, irrespective of where one was in the world, one could listen to one's hometown radio station.

CII organises the Big Picture Summit every year to discuss opportunities and address challenges. This year's theme is: 'Scaling New Heights of Content, Creativity and Innovation'.

The summit's primary objective is to discuss global trends and opportunities, macroeconomic turbulences leading to a softening of revenues, understanding domestic consumer preferences, and the growing focus on local opportunities for a global audience.