NEW DELHI: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has stressed the need to make access to news and entertainment affordable and universal.

She said in her address to Parliament at the start of the Budget session today that in addition to notifying guidelines for providing Headend in the Sky services, the digitalization of both All India Radio and Doordarshan was on the anvil.

The Commonwealth Games 2010 will be covered in High Definition format by Doordarshan for the first time.

She added, �We also take pride that Indian films and music compositions have got international acclaim and recognition for our artists.'

Meanwhile, she said a National Mission for Education through Information and Communication Technology had been launched to provide broadband internet connectivity to around 18,000 colleges and 400 universities in the country.

She said the government was committed to the goal of extending the benefits of modern communication facilities to rural areas. Financial support is provided from Universal Service Obligation Fund to provide infrastructure for rural connectivity. Action had been initiated to set up 10,000 towers in 2010-11 for connecting remote areas across the country.

The space programme continued to provide societal services to the Nation in the areas of tele-medicine, tele-education and village resource centres. The Oceansat-2 satellite was successfully launched onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The flight test of the GSLV-D3 launch vehicle with indigenous cryogenic stage, and the launch of the Cartosat-2B, INSAT-3D and Resourcesat-2 satellites are planned in the near future. The GSLV-Mark III launch vehicle will be further developed and activities towards the Chandrayaan-2 Mission will be initiated, she said.