State-owned Doordarshan is in the process of fine-tuning a Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) direct-to-home television satellite project and has got the Prasar Bharati board's approval for this.

"The Prasar Bharati board has decided that Doordarshan should be a player in the DTH market and the Planning Commission has approved the project," Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said on Monday.

Rs 500 crore will be invested in the DTH project over the next five years. Doordarshan will apply to the government for a licence by the end of this month.

K S Sarma, chief executive of Prasar Bharati, said: "Doordarshan will put its case before the government by the end of this month. We will also initiate talks with private players to join the Doordarshan platform."

Rupert Murdoch's Star TV and Agrani, controlled by Subhash Chandra, have already applied for DTH licences, making Doordarshan the third player in this field.

DTH is a capital-intensive venture. A DTH platform with 100-odd channels requires an investment of about $500 million.

In November 2000, the Union Cabinet had allowed the reception of  Ku-band television signals direct to Indian homes, inserting several foreign investment-related and cross-media restrictions as safeguards against the creation of monopolies and cultural invasion.

According to the DTH guidelines, the total foreign investment, including foreign direct investment, investment by non-resident Indians and foreign corporates, and by foreign institutional investors should not exceed 49 per cent.