DD Free Dish auction: ABP News, News Nation top MPEG-2 news category bids

India’s free-to-air DTH platform DD Free Dish has concluded another round of its slot auctions, with leading Hindi news broadcasters securing carriage in the MPEG-2 category.

The results underline continued competition among news channels for access to the platform’s wide free-to-air viewership base.

The auction, conducted by Prasar Bharati, saw strong participation from major news broadcasters, with several channels placing closely matched bids to secure distribution through the MPEG-2 stream, which reaches a large base of non-pay television households across India.

In the MPEG-2 news category, News Nation and ABP News emerged as the top bidders, each securing slots with bids of Rs.8.65 crore. Close behind were NDTV India, Republic Bharat, Zee News, and India TV, all of which secured slots with bids of Rs.8.60 crore.

The narrow difference in bid values reflects intense competition among Hindi news broadcasters to maintain visibility on DD Free Dish, which remains a crucial distribution platform for channels targeting mass audiences, particularly in Hindi-speaking markets and rural regions.

DD Free Dish periodically conducts e-auctions to allocate channel slots across different genres and technology formats, including MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 streams. The latest auction highlights the platform’s continued relevance for news broadcasters seeking nationwide reach and sustained audience engagement through free-to-air distribution.

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“This initiative will empower subscribers to pay online and subscribe to the channels they want to watch and get it activated on their TV sets in real-time without any delay. Without needing to undertake any software development, LMOs can approach Mobiezy for their pre-built and pre-integrated solution that uses NXTDigital’s news APIs and can be up and running with their own mobile apps within just a few days.”

RU Ediriwira, Group CTO, NXTDigital Limited

“With the launch of Partnership for Growth 3.0 we intend to expand our network with 40 new NXTHUBs, each offering up to 650 live TV channels and broadband. Our efforts are focused on harnessing the convergence of technologies, developing robust apps and creating new business models that will help the overall ecosystem, delivering the best experience to our subscribers. We hope to achieve a stronger foothold in the rural regions of the country and grow our subscriber base.”

N.K. Rouse, COO, NXT Digital Ltd

“One of the key principles of the Hinduja Group is ‘Partnership for Growth’. After 2.0 saw the launch of HITS to connect LMOs in even the most remote locations through the only satellite-based cable TV platform in India; 3.0 focuses not just on strengthening the overall ecosystem we have built, but harnessing the convergence of technologies – to be delivered through a national network of NXTHUBs. Video and broadband are only the beginning of the digital highway of services that we have developed for roll-out backed by a robust suite of innovative apps developed by service providers exclusively for our LMOs and subscribers.”

Vynsley Fernandes, MD & CEO, NXTDigital Limited

“Wireline broadband is becoming ever more important not only in connecting homes across the country but also small to large enterprises-to the digital economy. The NXTHUBs will be the perfect point-of-presence to offer broadband services to cater to these consumer needs.”

Yugal Kishore Sharma CEO, ONEOTT Intertainment Limited

Amazing and grim battle for survival. Guess it will end up in Supreme Court. All that NCLT asked Zee to do was to file a reply to Invesco petition for a EGM. Now this is getting too serious. So far Invesco has been hammered for demanding an EGM. What is Zee upto? Ofcourse my lawyer community knows better!

Ashok Mansukhani, Corporate Law and Media Law Advocate at Ashokmansukhani Associates

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DD Free Dish auction: ABP News, News Nation top MPEG-2 news category bids

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