AIR national channel shut down in city

NEW DELHI: The All India Radio (AIR) in Shillong will suffer a loss since Prasar Bharati has decided to shut down the national channel and close Regional Academies of Broadcasting & Multimedia (RABM) as part of its cost-cutting and rationalisation measures.
The move will leave AIR with no national channel of its own in Shillong unlike state television broadcaster Doordarshan for the broadcast of national events. The national channel, which broadcasts from 6 pm to 6 am, came up in 1987 and played an important role in keeping people abreast with national issues.
Apart from Shillong, the national state broadcaster of the country has decided to close down the national channel of AIR in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Thiruvananthapuram with immediate effect. Prasar Bharati has also decided to close down the RABM in these four places.
The move was communicated to the Director General of AIR and has been taken in order to rationalise AIR services keeping in view the cost-cutting measure.