Google collaborates with Prasar Bharat to digitise AIR and Doordarshan archives; content to be hosted on Google Arts and Culture

Google has announced a long-term collaboration with Indian broadcaster Prasar Bharati.As part of this partnership, Google will digitise over 20 years worth of archives of Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR). In addition to this, events of national importance such as the Independence Day speech, Republic Day speech, among others will also be livestreamed on YouTube.On India's 73rd Independence Day, Google pushed the livestream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on YouTube in all its results for every search term looking for 'India Independence Day'. This link is available on mobile as well as on desktop browsers.[caption id="attachment_3541927" align="alignnone" width="380"]

Representational image.[/caption]Google would be digitising over 20 years of content from Doordarshan and AIR across 12 languages. This content will be hosted on Google Arts and Culture.Speaking on the collaboration, Chetan Krishnaswamy, director, Public Policy at Google India and South Asia, said, “We are delighted to collaborate with Prasar Bharati in promoting their library of rich content, as well as promoting Indian events of national importance to the Internet users across the world. With this collaboration, we are hoping to bring the best of Prasar Bharati’s broadcast programming to digital users across age-groups, in varied languages, and topics that are integral to India’s rich history and culture."Shashi Shekhar, CEO, Prasar Bharati, added, "The partnership between Prasar Bharati and Google has been instrumental in bringing content of National interest on digital platform to a range of audiences globally. Some of these events include Independence Day-2018, Republic Day 2019, General Election 2019 etc. The partnership has also played a key role in creating a mindshare for the Public Broadcaster among the young audience who are digitally savvy."