DD Free Dish slots, 75th e-auction

Prasar Bharati had invited bids for allotment of vacant MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish platform for FY25 on January 18, 2024. This is the sixth Annual (75th) e-auction being held for DD Free Dish slots.

The e-auction started on February 19, 2024. It is being held in several rounds, in which slots of a total of 96 TV channels are to be filled.

Only satellite channels licensed by MIB are permitted to participate. Licensed international public broadcasters can also participate.

Results
February 20-Day One
On first day, only two channels secured the slots for Rs 21.25 crore and Rs 21.15 crore, respectively, in Category A+ (Hindi GEC). Both  were secured by Manoranjan TV Group for its General Entertainment channels, Manoranjan Grand and Manoranjan TV.

February 21-Day Two
Sri Adhikari Brothers’ Dhamaal and Sun Network’s Sun Hindi were the new entrants among a total of 13 slots sold so far.

While there were only two slots sold on Monday in the A+ bouquet, 11 channels picked up slots on Tuesday in the A+, A and B bouquets.

The successful bidders of the A+ bouquet were Manoranjan TV (Rs 21.15 crore), Manoranjan Grand (Rs 21.25 crore), Dhamaal (Rs 20.85 crore), Dangal (Rs 20.80 crore), Sun Hindi (Rs 21 crore) and The Q (Rs 19.05 crore). The reserve price for General Entertainment Channels (GEC) in Hindi/ Urdu language in Bucket A+ is Rs 15 crore.

In Bucket A, reserved for movie channels, Colors Cineplex Superhits (Rs 18.3 crore), Zee Anmol Cinema (Rs 18 crore), Star Utsav Movies (Rs 17.8 crore), Colors Cineplex Bollywood (Rs 17.75 crore), Star Gold Thrills (Rs 17.8 crore) and Sony Wah (Rs 17.5 crore) secured a slot each. The base price for Bucket A, which consists of movie channels in Hindi/Urdu language was set at Rs 12 crore.

Chumbak TV was the only winner in Bucket B, reserved for music, sports, all channels of the Bhojpuri language and all other remaining genres of Hindi/Urdu. The channel got a slot for Rs 16.75 crore over the base price of Rs 10 crore.

February 22-Day Three
Day 3 saw e-auction for Bucket C, which includes News and Current Affairs (Hindi/ Urdu) Channels. The starting reserve price for Bucket C channels is Rs 7 crore. Six slots were sold for a total of around Rs 115 crore. The slot winners were Aaj Tak, ABP News, NDTV, News18, R Bharat, Zee News. Bucket C channels were priced at Rs 7 crore.

February 23- Day Four
Eight channels secured positions in Bucket D, which included Devotional / Spiritual / Ayush, all Marathi & Punjabi genres, and News & Current Affairs (English) channels, with a total auction value of Rs 124.85 crore.

The channels winning slots in Bucket D include Sanskaar, Sadhana, Zee Punjabi, Aastha, Sun Marathi, Zee Chitramandir, and Manoranjan Movies Punjabi. Russian Today claimed the initial slot in Bucket D. The base price was Rs 6 crore.

Russian Today and Sanskaar channel made the highest bids in Bucket D, each paying Rs 18.10 crore, while Zee Chitramandir submitted the lowest bid at Rs 15.55 crore.

Additionally, the auction for Bucket R1, covering channels not in any specific bucket, took place, and only one slot was sold, with Manoranjan Tamil Peer securing it for Rs 11.9 crore. The base prices was Rs 3 crore.

The next auction, the 76th e-auction is scheduled for MPEG-4 slots on March 11, 2024. The last date for filing of application is March 5 2024, with a processing and participation fee Rs 25,000 and Rs.10,00,000, respectively.