MUMBAI: Infotainment broadcaster Discovery will launch a Hindi feed for Discovery Science on 1 October.

Discovery Science will now be available round the clock in Hindi and English on both analogue and DTH platforms including Tata Sky, Dish TV, Videocon D2H and Airtel Digital TV.

Discovery South Asia senior VP, GM Rahul Johri said, "Since its launch, Discovery Science has successfully driven the mission to bring science back into the spotlight and showcase how indispensable it is in our daily lives. Discovery Science has gone beyond the imagination to explore the unknown and present the greatest discoveries, inventions and scientific breakthroughs in a relatable and refreshing format. We have received an encouraging response from our viewers, affiliates and advertisers across India and the launch of the Hindi feed will deliver an enriching viewing experience especially in the Hindi-speaking markets."

Speaking on this Discovery India VP marketing Rajiv Bakshi said that the decision was the result of viewer demand. "There comes a stage in a channel?s lifecycle when more needs to be done. Discovery Science is present in over 20 million homes. Hindi is the pre dominant language. Languaging helps boost the time spent, it gets in new audiences and also helps with viewers who find that English as a language is a barrier."

Discovery Kids launched earlier this year in English, Hindi and Tamil. TLC and Animal Planet are in English and Hindi. The flagship channel Discovery is in English, Hindi, Telugu and Bangla. In addition, Discovery has a separate channel for the Tamil market.

Bakshi adds that there no plans to have Discovery Science in more languages. Also there are no plans to dub Discovery Turbo and Discovery HD for now. "There is a cost in doing language feeds. There has to be viewer pull and an immediate benefit."

On the programming front coinciding with the Hindi-language feed launch, Discovery Science has announced five series which will be aired over the next three months. ?Prophets of Science Fiction? will present the stories of the strange lives of the visionaries and reveal the secrets of their uncanny ability to see the future; ?Dark Matters? will expose some of history?s most bizarre experiments; ?Alien Encounters? will explore how alien life might communicate with Earth; ?How Tech Works? features the latest and future technologies of the world.

Meanwhile, ?Combat Tech? takes a look at the greatest military engineering accomplishments. Additionally, Discovery Science will feature a line-up ?Space Week? with programmes that focus on space, the universe and astrophysics from October 1 -7, every day at 8 pm.

NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has prepared a cabinet note to bring about financial restructuring of Prasar Bharati and ensure all operating expenses should be borne by the Broadcasting body?s internal revenues.

The Note will come up before Union Cabinet soon as inter-ministerial discussions on the same are in their final stages.

The note is based on recommendations of a Group of Ministers attached to Prasar Bharati, which suggested that Government Non-Plan support should be extended for meeting the total expenses on salary and salary-related expenses and augmentation and replacement of capital assets for the five years from 2011-12 to 2015-16.

The GoM had also recommended that accumulated arrears of space segment and spectrum charges up to 31 March 2011 should be waived.

Section 22 of the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 should be restored in its original form to exempt the pubcaster from paying any income tax.

All loans paid to the public service broadcaster should be converted into grants-in-aid, the GoM had said, adding that interests accrued on the loans should be waived.

Prasar Bharati?s revenue stood at Rs 10.38 billion for the nine-month period ended 31 December 2011. The commercial revenue by Doordarshan and All India Radio during this period was Rs 7.48 billion and Rs 2.45 billion respectively while Rs 444 million came from ?other resources?.

In 2010-11, Prasar Bharati?s revenue climbed to Rs 12.71 billion, from Rs 11.46 billion a year ago. Out of the net revenue, Rs 9.44 billion came from DD and Rs 2.76 billion from AIR as net commercial revenue. A total of Rs 505.8 million came from other resources.

Prasar Bharati?s operational costs during fiscal 2010-11 rose to Rs 27.45 billion, out of which Rs 14.69 billion was for Doordarshan. The increase in the operational cost has been attributed to the hike in the salary of employees following the 6th Pay Commission.