Prasar Bharati, IIT Kanpur to collaborate on NextGen broadcasting technology

Prasar Bharati, India’s public service broadcaster, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK), will set up a Center of Excellence for Media and Broadcasting Technologies at IIT Kanpur, as a follow up of an agreement signed between the two institutions. 

Subsequent to the collaboration agreement, three areas have been identified to be taken up under the aegis of the Centre of Excellence -- Direct to mobile broadcasting and convergence with emerging 5G standards, artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms for audio-visual media. 

The research projects that will be taken up by IIT Kanpur in these three areas leveraging funding provided by Prasar Bharati are: 

• Next generation broadcast technology trial (Direct to mobile broadcasting, convergence with 5G)
• Automatic speech recognition for speech subtitling (Making broadcast content in various Indian languages accessible)
• Archival content retrieval through audio and text query

“With audiences increasingly shifting away from traditional broadcasting to OTT platforms and audio-video content consumption over mobile data, it is critical for the public broadcaster to be able to reach audiences directly on their mobile phones, smartphones and other smart devices. We see this research collaboration with IIT Kanpur as critical to the development of an indigenous technology ecosystem for direct to mobile broadcasting,” said Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO, Prasar Bharati. 

Excited to work with Prasar Bharati: IITK Director

Meanwhile, Abhay Karandikar, director, IIT-Kanpur, said, “We are excited to work with Prasar Bharati in emerging technologies for broadcasting. The direct to mobile converged platform trial will enable the transition to the next generation technology deployment. The development of technologies such as automatic speech recognition for subtitling and archival content retrieval through audio and text query have significant potential of making broadcast content available in various Indian languages.” 

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