The government is giving final shape to the entry of Prasar Bharati into the cable television distribution business in the form of a joint venture company with state owned telecom companies.

According to government sources, the entry of the state owned broadcaster into the new business will be in the form of a joint venture company with shareholding from Prasar Bharati, Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

The proposal to enter the cable television distribution business was initially proposed by the Prasar Bharati review committee with Infosys chairman N R Narayana Murthy, Kiran Karnik, president Nasscom, and the late Shunu Sen as members.

"As a public service broadcaster which should aim to ultimately reach every home in India, Prasar Bharati cannot afford to neglect this important means of delivery. New technologies that have built in interactivity make it all the more necessary for Prasar Bharati to take a serious look at a means of distribution that it has so far neglected," the committee had recommended.

However, the exact structure and working of the new company is still to be finalised.

"We are looking at various options. A decision would be taken soon," said a government official.

This would also mean that Prasar Bharati would open another avenue of revenue for it apart from the present advertising and programming revenue.

Government sources has also said that the roll out of the venture would be in a phased manner with the first the beginning in Mumbai and Delhi using MTNL infrastructure. In the other parts of the country, it would use the infrastructure of BSNL.

The cable distribution company would also be used to cover delivery of Prasar Bharati's radio, Internet and eventually TV services via the MTNL and BSNL mobile service.