NEW DELHI: A separate 24-hour news channel on All India Radio is under final stages of consideration by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Confirming this, I & B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma also said that the Ministry was considering a proposal from Prasar Bharati to bifurcate the DD News channels into separate Hindi and English news channels.

At a meeting with heads of various Punjab-based media units in Amritsar yesterday, Varma had said: "The Centre is exploring various aspects and technicalities involved in launching a 24-hour news channel on AIR."

Varma reviewed the existing status of AIR and Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) transmission in border areas and discussed the progress of digitalisation of AIR and DDK.

He directed the DD authorities to explore the possibility of introducing a toll free number on which viewers cutting across national borders could directly voice their opinion.

Reacting to media reports on monopoly by certain private cable TV operators, Varma said the matter have already been referred to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

Earlier this year, DD News Director General S M Khan told indiantelevision.com that he was confident of achieving this target of July. For separate English and Hindi news channels.

He had said that the pubcaster had conducted a survey which showed that viewers favoured separate channels for the two languages.

He was also confident that even after bifurcation both DD Samachar and DD News will continue to get adequate advertisement support.

Khan said that the two channels would pool news and work in unison with each other. Some new programmes were being devised as both channels would now get more available time.

DD News saw a change in news presentation with new presenters and a lighter format from the beginning of this year.