Prasar Bharati on Friday invited applications from broadcasters for the allotment of vacant MPEG-4 slots on its DD Free Dish platform between the period September 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. India’s public service broadcaster said that the companies interested to offer their channels on the DD Free Dish platform are required to send their applications before August 24, 2020. Prasar Bharati said that an e-auction, if required, will be held on August 25. The public service broadcaster earlier in the month had announced that two channels namely ABZY Movies and News State UP/Uttarakhand had secured slots on its platform.
Prasar Bharati Invites Applications from Channel Broadcasters
Prasar Bharati on Friday said in its notice that the satellite channels licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting would be allotted slots on the DD Free Dish platform. Further, the international public broadcasters who are permitted and are registered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting are also said to be eligible for the e-auction. Crucially, it was said that the bidding price for the e-auction that will be open to all genres and all language channels will carry a base price of Rs 50.40 lakhs. Prasar Bharati said that the successful bidders are required to make the payments in five monthly installments. The interested bidders are also required to pay the non-refundable processing fee of Rs 25,000 online while the participation fee of Rs 1.25 lakh is required to be paid through Demand Draft. The bidders who were unsuccessful in the e-auction are said to be offered refunds on the participation fee in three weeks on the declaration of e-auction.
Prasar Bharti Added Over 20 Channels in Two Months on DD Free Dish Platform
It has to be noted that Prasar Bharti in June added over 20 channels on its DD Free Dish Platform. The public service broadcaster in early June announced that five major general entertainment channels (GEC) including Star Utsav and Colors Rishtey would make a reentry into the DD Free Dish platform. In late June, Prasar Bharati announced that 15 channels including four devotional and 11 news channels were selected through the 46th e-auction.
