Prasar Bharati adds 6 new slots in MPEG-2
The latest expansion now pushes the total number of MPEG-2 slots from 88 to 94
Prasar Bharati has been full of surprises this year when it comes to DD Free Dish. From raising prices for MPEG-4 slots to now adding six more new slots in MPEG-2. DD Free Dish viewers have more choices coming their way while the public broadcaster eyes raking up more profits from the auctions.
The pubcaster added the six new MPEG-2 slots on March 30, 2021. The latest expansion now pushes the total number of MPE G2 slots from 88 to 94.
Interestingly, in the recently concluded 52nd DD Free Dish auction, four new slots were already added, pushing the bid values to touch an all-time high. Prasar Bharati ended up auctioning 57 slots instead of their usual 53 slots this time. Quite obviously this also pumped up their total earnings from the auctions even so because most of the additions were surprise extensions adding to the competition of securing a slot on the platform that now boasts of an estimated subscriber count of over 40 million.
The public broadcaster ended up making Rs 731.34 crore from sale of 57 MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish. The collections saw a growth of 23% against the total income of Rs 594.25 crore from the sale of 53 MPEG-2 slots in March 2020.
In the auctions, the Hindi movie channels, which are placed under A Bucket, outdid the other genres by paying as high as Rs 194.85 crore for 15 slots. The average slot price and highest bid price stood at Rs 12.99 crore and Rs 13.35 crore respectively. Touching new highs, the news and current affairs channels that come under the C Bucket bid Rs 190.3 crore for 11 slots. The average slot price and highest bid price stood at Rs 17.30 crore and Rs 22.05 crore respectively
The high subscriber count and reach makes it almost mandatory for channels to go all in when it comes to bidding for a spot on the DD Free Dish platform. The absolute need of being on the platform can clearly be understood from the return of the big four on the platform. The four large networks, Star India, Viacom18 Media, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, and Sony Pictures Networks India, that had pulled-out their content from DD Free Dish from 1 March 2019, also made a comeback on DD Free Dish during 2020 to capitalize on the platform’s reach and hence advertising revenues.
