Government considering outsourcing content for Doordarshan: Rathore

New Delhi, April 22 (IANS) The government is considering outsourcing the content for Doordarshan, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said on Thursday.

"In order to support better content, the government is considering outsourcing the content for Doordarshan, providing a dedicated channel for showing documentaries and providing funds to Indian movies for participating in foreign film festivals," he said at a seminar on 'India-Entertainment as soft power' organized by the commerce and industry ministry in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Services Export Promotion Council.

Rathore said that there is a huge thirst for good content among the people and the media and entertainment industry needs to invest in skills in order to improve quality.

"Professionals in the media and entertainment industry need to be skilled and there is an opportunity for skill development centres to come up across the country," he said.

Rathore said the 'Make in India' vision of increasing production within India was already happening in the media and entertainment industry with a large amount of content being produced.

"The government is taking various measures to support this trend and be a facilitator for the industry. It is setting up a centre for excellence in animation and gaming in Maharashtra," he added at the event at the India Expo Centre and Mart in Greater Noida.

Rathore said that India was experiencing a significant increase in connectivity and the central government was introducing a number of measures to support India's media and entertainment industry.

He said that getting visas for film-making will be made easier and duties on film-making equipment will be brought down and that issues related to clearances are being addressed. There are 857 television channels and 168 million households have access to television content.