The e-auction will be conducted as per e-auction methodology for allotment of DD Free Dish slots to private TV channels, notified by the pubcaster on Jan 27, 2023
The e-auction, tentatively scheduled for August 28th, 2024, will offer MPEG-2 slots for the period from September 5th, 2024, to March 31st, 2025
In the Bill, government has proposed that every cable and satellite broadcasting network operator shall transmit or re-transmit programmes in an encrypted form through a digital addressable system
Only the satellite channels licensed by the Ministry of I&B would be allowed to participate in the e-auction
The slots are for the period between July 24, 2024 and March 31, 2025
TRAI, however, has jurisdiction in the case of tariff forbearance and permission to DPOs to form their own bouquets, said the experts
The measure, said TRAI, will prevent unauthorised re-transmission of TV channels and combat piracy
In its recommendations on National Broadcasting Policy, TRAI said that there's a lack of an effective mechanism to authenticate subscriber data numbers on the FreeDish
Bidding in the auction of MPEG-4 was open to all genres and language channels at a reserve price of Rs 1.6 crore per annum
But there is hope for pay TV as India still has 125 million TV-dark homes, Sanjiv Shankar, Joint Secretary, Broadcast, MIB, told e4m
As per industry experts, the absence of the Big 4 broadcasters, the DTH platform's reach and the upcoming general elections spurred this aggressive bidding
Manoranjan Grand paid the highest price, Rs 21.25 crore, for a slot on the platform
The total number of slots sold in the last six days has reached 59 and the total revenue earned so far is Rs 1079 crore, crossing last year's revenue
Last year, the pubcaster earned a total of Rs 1,073 crore from the 65 slots on the DD FreeDish
Another channel, Dhamaal has also secured a slot for Rs 20.85 crore
Overall, Prasar Bharati has earned Rs 645 crore from 34 channels in the auction so far
The slots were picked up by Zee News, NDTV, Aaj Tak, ABP News, News18 and R Bharat
The e-auction will be tentatively held from February 19, 2024
The online e-auction process to be tentatively held on September 12, 2023
According to sources, two news channels also bid for the spot at Rs 15 crore
The first two slots under Bucket C, for news & current affairs (Hindi) channels, has been picked up for Rs 19.85 crore and Rs 16.55 crore say sources
Originally scheduled for March 13, the online auction is for vacant MPEG-2 slots of the DD Free Dish from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024
Industry sources say Disney Star, ZEEL, Culver Max Entertainment and Viacom18 plan to bid for the DD FreeDish slots for their Hindi GECs like Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Sony Pal and Colors Rishtey
The slots will be allotted for the period, April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024
Experts feel launching the channel on the FTA platform may be a tactical move by the network to initiate a dialogue with advertisers
Sports18 Khel will be available on channel #25 on DD FreeDish from today
The highest bid in the category for the MPEG-2 58th e-auctions was at Rs 6.90 crore
Republic Bharat, ABP News, Zee News, News Nation and Times Now Navbharat are the channels that secured slot
Repeated complaints were made to MIB against nine private regional channels in the past that have been bypassing Free Dish regulations, creating discrepancies in the system
The hiked prices were hardly a deterrent for news channels that wanted to get on to the DD Free Dish platform
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The reserve price has been increased to Rs 50 lakh/annum from Rs 5 lakh/annum, and the incremental amount has been revised to a minimum of Rs 2 lakh and multiples against the initial Rs 10,000
While most broadcasters paid a huge premium over what they paid last year for a slot on the platform, the highest bid went up by 80%
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According to sources, channels like 9X Jalwa and Showbox are among the few who have withdrawn from Prasar Bharati’s DTH Platform due to the I&B ministry not providing them a waiver on carriage fees