Doordarshan to return to Europe via Hotbird

India state broadcaster, Doordarshan will be returning to Europe next year after agreeing a deal to broadcast via Hotbird.

According to reports, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government is ensuring that the pubcaster is effectively used to broadcast important information and news not just in India but also to global audiences.

TelevisionPost reports that the pubcaster has signed an agreement with the German public service broadcaster Deutsche Welle earlier to distribute DD�۪s international channel abroad. ���Deutsche Welle vacated a slot on the popular Euro Hotbird satellite and we gave them one in India. This will be DD�۪s first-ever presence in the west as the new government gave us a go-ahead,�۝ an official told Economic Times.

Doordarshan was previously available in UK on Sky Digital. It ceased broadcasting in April 2008. Doordarshan now will get the platform of Hotbird-13B, a direct-to-home (DTH) medium which reaches Europe, Northern Africa and the whole of Middle East with 1,543 TV channels, out of which 1,117 are free-to-air.