New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS): The Prasar Bharati board Tuesday approved further expansion of national broadcaster Doordarshan's Direct to Home (DTH) platform so as to reach 150 channels by December, an official statement said.

The board also approved the DTH platform adding another 100 channels in 2012.

At its 104th meeting here, the board approved expansion of the All India Radio's FM stations to all 313 cities planned for coverage under the FM expansion scheme of the information and broadcasting ministry, an official statement said.

The board approved a token allocation of Rs.300 crores "as bridge finance for undertaking this work to be recouped from the government once the scheme of expansion of FM coverage by All India Radio is approved and adopted in the 12th Five Year Plan".

The board approved creation of 2,183 new vacancies in All India Radio to cover new projects and a special package for Jammu and Kashmir.

A similar scheme for Doordarshan has also been sought and is expected to be approved before the end of September.

Strengthening of finance wing of Prasar Bharati also came up for discussion. The board approved nine posts at the level of general manager and manager, exclusively for strengthening finance, budget and accounting wings of Prasar Bharati.

The board also noted the result of the latest auction of the six vacant slots on the DTH platform at the prices ranging from 3.21 crores to 3.5 crores per year.

It was decided to consider adoption of the e-auction model for programming of slots on Doordarshan as well.

The board also mooted an amendment to an act which governs telecast of sports events held in foreign countries with the aim of enabling Doordarshan garner greater revenue through an equal sharing policy.

Sources said the board proposed policy amendment to the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act so that revenues of the events held abroad and telecast by Doordarshan be shared on an equal basis with foreign broadcast partner.

The board decided that the information and broadcasting minister be requested to immediately implement the recommendation because "of the heavy financial consequences imposed on Doordarshan due to unequal playing field provided under the present dispensation".