DD Freedish dth information

14/08/2022

B4U Network's Hindi movie channel B4U Plus and the newly launched Hindi GEC Atrangi TV have won MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish during the 61st e-auction that was held on Wednesday, sources close to the development said.

Sources further stated that the two channels will replace rural-focussed Hindi GEC Azaad TV and Sanjeev Kapoor's FoodFood, which have exited DD Free Dish. B4U Network already has four channels namely B4U Bhojpuri, B4U Kadak, B4U Music, and B4U Movies on DD Free Dish.

A Prasar Bharati official said that the result of the e-auction will be made public soon after the procedure for awarding slots is completed.

At Rs 14.38 crore, the base price for Hindi movie channels was more than Hindi GECs, which had a base price of Rs 9.78 crore. The e-auction didn't see much action as most broadcasters didn't participate in the bidding.

An industry source said the big broadcasters, who are looking to relaunch their Hindi GECs on the FTA DTH platform, decided to sit out the 61st e-auction as only two slots were up for grabs.

"The Big 4 broadcasters didn't want a bidding war to take place due to the availability of fewer slots," the source added.

Prasar Bharati had issued a notice on 29th July inviting applications for allotment of vacant MPEG-2 slots on a pro-rata basis for the period from 17.08.2022 to 31.03.2023.

The public broadcaster will conduct the 62nd e-auction on 17th August to offer vacant MPEG-4 slots on a pro-rata basis from 24th August 2022 to 31st March 2023. Bidding in the e-auction will be open to all channels across languages and genres at starting reserve price of Rs 10,113,000.

A vast majority of DD Free Dish's consumer base uses MPEG-2 set-top boxes (STBs), which are unencrypted and can be purchased from any STB dealer in the open market. The MPEG-4 STB, on the other hand, is encrypted and can only be purchased from authorised dealers approved by the Prasar Bharati. The MPEG-4 STBs are a fraction of DD Free Dish's overall consumer base.

12/02/2022

02/04/2021

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.

31/03/2021

DD Freedish Channel list line up w.e.f.01/04/2021

https://prasarbharati.gov.in/wp-con...Free-Dish-LCN-Line-up-from-1st-April-2021.pdf

30/03/2021

Prasar Bharati's free DTH platform DD Free Dish continues its strong growth trajectory. According to the FICCI-EY report, Free television, on the other hand, continued to grow its base to cross an estimated 40 million subscribers on the back of less expensive television sets, economic issues, the launch of the DD Retro Channel, and the return of big broadcasters to the Free Dish platform

As of January 2021, DD Free Dish hosted 161 channels including 91 Doordarshan channels (comprising of 51 educational channels launched during the pandemic) and 70 private channels. The Free Dish service also delivers All India Radio’s audio programming content of around 48 satellite radio channels.

26/03/2021

Prasar Bharati has earned nearly Rs 10 crore through the 53rd e-auction of MPEG-4 slots of DD Free Dish. 11 channels were successfully allocated MPEG-4 slots post the auction.

The 53rd round of e-auctions was dominated by news channels, with 10 out of the 11 slot up for grabs being won by news outlets. The channels that earned the FTA tag this time are: Chardikla Time TV, I Love Pen Studios, India News, India News UP/UK, Jantantra TV, News 18 UP/UK, News 24 Think First, News India 24X7, News State UP/UK, Samay, Sudarshan News.

The bid values of these channels were in the range of Rs 76 lakh and Rs 1.12 crore.

“Thankful to all broadcasters who have reposed faith in DD Free Dish platform. The e-auctions for both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 slots have seen robust bidding and new highs in individual bids breaching earlier levels in a sign of optimism in the broadcast sector overcoming Covid2019 shock,” Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said.
The pubcaster recently amended the policy guidelines for DD Free Dish slots. According to new guidelines, the reserve price for MPEG-4 slots have been fixed at Rs 50 lakh per annum. Earlier, the reserve price was Rs 5 lakh per annum.

The amended rules termed ‘Policy guidelines for allotment of slots of DD Free Dish Direct-to-Home Platform to satellite TV channels (Third amendment) 2021’ came into force from 22 February.

Under the old rules, the participation fee was at Rs 1.25 lakh which has been revised to Rs 10 lakh. The incremental amount in the auction bids of MPEG-4 slots stands at a minimum of Rs 2 lakh, compared to Rs 10,000 under the old guidelines.

03/03/2021

After nearly two years of work, the merger of the Lok Sabha TV and the Rajya Sabha TV has been finalised and will be replaced by a single entity Sansad TV. On March 1, retired IAS officer Ravi Capoor was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the channel.

01/03/2021

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati-owned free DTH platform DD Free Dish has mopped up an eye-popping Rs 731.34 crore from the sale of 57 MPEG-2 slots from the just-concluded third annual and 52nd e-auction. This is 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.

Subject to completion of all formalities, channels that have successfully bid for slots will come on air on the DD Free Dish platform from 1st April. The channels have won the slot for a period of one year. The third annual (52nd) e-auction, which tentatively began on 22nd February, was completed on 27th February.

25/02/2021

DD Freedish :

3rd Annual E - Auction winning Tv Channels Bucketwise Name List.New Tv channels will come on DD Freedish.

Available : 01/04/2021 - 31/03/2022

16/02/2021

Channels enjoying a free ride on DD Free Dish may soon be a thing of the past. Broadcaster bodies have long been complaining of some regional channels bypassing the auction process on DD Free Dish but still reaping the benefits of the platform in terms of reach by riding on technical slipups. Fortunately for broadcasters, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has finally addressed the issue and assured them that the matter will be taken up immediately.

Earlier this month, Javadekar replied to a question in Loksabha by stating: “Reference was received from Prasar Bharati regarding the reception of some channels of the private broadcasters on the Set-Top Boxes of DD Free Dish subscribers, which were not part of channels downlinkable from that platform. The Ministry proposes to address this issue in the new uplinking and downlinking guidelines for private TV channels to be notified by the Government.”

As per sources, around nine regional channels have been bypassing Free Dish regulations, creating discrepancies in the system. “The glitch is not just impacting broadcasters who are on the platform through auction and paying a huge carriage fee annually but is also costing the public broadcaster a setback of close to Rs 60 crore annually,” said an industry insider.

According to MIB, this situation has come to pass due to co-location of signals and the non-mandatory requirement for encryption of signals of a Free-to-Air TV Channel.

The technical slip-up in question here is MIB’s permissions to certain platforms to carry on dual transmission on C-band as well as Ku-band. DD Free Dish platform operates in the Ku-band on GSAT 15 satellite providing services to the viewers on the free-to-air basis and thus guaranteeing huge viewership and reach to broadcasters on the platform. The nine regional channels in question are allegedly are available in unencrypted form to viewers illegally through the set-top box meant for free to air viewing of channels through the DD Freedish Platform.

13/02/2021

IN10 Media Network has announced the launch of Hindi General Entertainment Channel ISHARA, which will be available across networks from 1st March.

Aditya Pittie, Managing Director, IN10 Media Network, shared his views on this new initiative, “As part of our mission to provide superior content across genres and platforms, we are extremely pleased with the addition of Ishara to our bouquet of network assets. The GEC genre is the largest genre in the broadcast ecosystem, and we look forward to gaining market share in this space. Ishara’s content aims to symbolise the inherent ability of Indians to celebrate life through all its ups and downs.”

Ishara has shows from production houses like Hats Off Productions, Peninsula Pictures, Juggernaut Productions, Keylight Productions etc., in various phases of development. Launching with comprehensive coverage in the Hindi speaking market, Ishara will be available on all major DTH and cable networks.

The 5 original shows to debut at the launch of the channel, helmed by path-breaking content creators, feature some of the most recognisable faces on Indian television. The channel’s launch proposition offers a myriad range of genres that includes a mythological masterpiece Paapnaashini Ganga; crime-thriller Faraar Kab Tak; and three fiction shows Agni-Vayu, Humkadam and Janani.

01/02/2021

Prasar Bharati, India’s public service broadcaster on Friday invited applications for the allotment of vacant MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish, the free Direct-to-Home (DTH) service. According to the notice issued by Prasar Bharati, the vacant MPEG-2 slots on the DD Free Dish are to be allotted through the third annual e-auction scheduled to be held from February 22, 2021. The public service broadcaster said that the slots won through the e-auction will be valid from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.