Cash-strapped state broadcaster Prasar Bharati is expecting a fresh influx of funds after auctions for slots on DD Free Dish open again. DD Free Dish fetches close to ₹300 crore in revenue. The auctions have been on hold or more than 17 months.
DD Free Dish reaches out to 30 million households, who get 80 channels without paying any monthly subscription fee to cable providers. It has slots for 80 channels, out of which 26 are reserved for Doordarshan-run channels and the remaining 54 will be open for bidding by private channels like Zee, Sony, Star Plus and so on.
Prasar Bharati has also overhauled its auction policy now. “The goal is to increase diversity, to take the service beyond the Hindi-speaking market. A premium has been placed on Hindi general entertainment channels. To increase diversity, we have a lower entry point for under-represented regional language channels,” Prasar Bharti CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati told The Hindu . The reserve price for a Hindi general entertainment channel will be ₹15 crore per annum and the reserve price for a regional language channel will be ₹6 crore per annum.
Mr. Vempati said that Prasar Bharati expected an overall increase in the quantum of revenue. “At present, it [the increase in quantum of revenue] is hard to say because we have classified the slots into five buckets,” he said.
Since the auctions were put on hold, the channels that wanted to continue were paying on pro-rata basis. “We were facing losses because eight slots were empty,” a senior Prasar Bharati official said.
Previously, there were 55 slots on Prasar Bharati. Now, only 54 are offered. One slot has been reserved for a Doordarshan channel catering especially to Arunachal Pradesh, which is expected to be announced shortly.
Doordarshan’s DD Free Dish service was inaugurated in 2004 with 33 channels. It provides TV coverage throughout India, except in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, via a set top box for which no monthly subscription fee is required. When DD Free Dish was started, the General Entertainment Channel slots were auctioned for ₹25 lakh per year; it now commands ₹8.5 crore per year.
