Prasar Bharati gets Rs.4.15 bn for Commonwealth Games coverage

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) The government Friday sanctioned Rs.4.15 billion to state-owned broadcaster Prasar Bharati for covering the 2010 Commonwealth Games here.

'Fifty percent of this will be a grant and the remaining will be a loan,' Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

'The broadcast rights will be auctioned and there will be a revenue stream but we can't say with certainty whether it will be possible to recover the loan,' the minister added.

'We'll see how to deal with that as we go along,' Chidambaram said.

Prasar Bharati, which runs the Doordarshan TV channel and All India Radio, is the host broadcaster for the games.