Prasar Bharati invites application for annual e-auction of MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish
The slots will be awarded through the fourth annual e-auction process to be tentatively held from March 7
Prasar Bharati has issued a notice inviting applications from broadcasters for allotment of MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish DTH Platform for the period from 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023. The slots will be awarded through the fourth annual e-auction process to be tentatively held from 7th March.
"Prasar Bharati invites applications for allotment of MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish DTH Platform for the period from 01.04.2022 to 31.03.2023 through 4th annual e-auction process (58th e-auction) to be tentatively held from 07.03.2022," the public broadcaster said in a public notice dated 8th February.
Only satellite channels licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) would be allowed to participate in the e-auction. Companies holding valid permission from the MIB or their authorised distributor partners can apply for participation in e-auction for allocation of DD Free Dish slot.
In case the applicant company is other than licencee, the document/agreement signed between licence Holder Company and applicant company authorising the applicant/bidder for distribution of the channel and bidding on behalf of the licencee must be submitted. International Public Broadcasters licenced by the MIB can also participate in the e-auction, the notice adds.
The pubcaster has categorised TV channels in different buckets based on the genres/language of the channel. The reserve price for Bucket A+ which comprises All GEC (Hindi) Channels is Rs 15 crore. The Bucket A which includes All Movie (Hindi) Channels has a reserve price of Rs 12 crore.
Bucket B, which comprises All Music (Hindi) Channels, Sports (Hindi) Channels, GEC (Bhojpuri), Movies (Bhojpuri), and Teleshopping (Hindi) channels, has a reserve price of Rs 10 crore. The reserve price for News & Current Affairs (English) and News & Current Affairs (Punjabi) Channels that fall under Bucket C is Rs 7 crore.
The reserve price for Bucket D (All other remaining Genre/Language Channels) and Bucket R1 (Devotional/Spiritual/AAYUSH Channels) are Rs 6 crore and Rs 3 crore respectively.
Broadcasters desirous of allotment of the slot on DD Free Dish are required to provide unambiguous proof in support of the genre classification of their channel. In case of lack of clarity, ambiguity, or conflicting information, applications will be deemed ineligible and may be summarily rejected.
In February 2021, Prasar Bharati had mopped up an eye-popping Rs 731.34 crore from the sale of 57 MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish from the third annual and 52nd e-auction. This was a 23% (Rs 137.09 crore) increase over the Rs 594.25 crore that it had collected from the sale of 53 MPEG-2 slots in March 2020.
