Independence Day celebrations live on YouTube

The live stream of the Independence Day celebration will not have any ads and will be streamed without any delay.

National broadcaster Doordarshan has partnered with YouTube India to live stream the 67th Indian Independence Day celebrations and the Prime Minister's address to the nation. This telecast will be available worldwide on high definition (HD) live feed on Doordarshan's YouTube channel (

).

The live stream will be available on August 15 from 6.25 am (IST) onward, capturing the flag-hoisting ceremony by the Prime Minister of India, from the Red Fort, Delhi. Besides the live stream, users will also be able to access highlight clips from the Independence Day celebrations later.

In January 2013, Doordarshan started the practice of live streaming its events on YouTube with the Republic Day parade, which it claims received around one lakh views on the day. Similarly, last month, Doordarshan streamed the annual chariot festival of Lord Jagannath live from Puri.

YouTube has a standard advertising revenue sharing deal with Doordarshan, where the majority is shared with Doordarshan.

According to Doordarshan's arrangement with YouTube, the broadcaster does run ads on its existing content. However, the live stream of Independence Day celebration will not have any ads and live streaming will take place without delay.

Speaking on the association with YouTube, Tripurari Sharan, director general, Doordarshan, says, "Streaming Independence Day celebration live on YouTube will help us to reach the global audience in a format which best suits today's generation. Our streaming of the 64th Republic Day Parade also received a tremendous response. Our objective is to cater to our Indian and global audiences and take events of national importance not only to their TV screens."

Gautam Anand, director, content partnerships, YouTube, states, "This is the first time we're live streaming India's Independence Day Celebrations and, we hope, our users will enjoy the telecast wherever they're in the world."

The national broadcaster is also looking at internet streaming seriously as it has launched a video portal (http://webcast.gov.in/) for live webcast of Doordarshan Network's channels including Lok Sabha TV, Rajya Sabha TV and DD News around the clock.