The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) on Wednesday waded into the Doordarshan FreeDish slot auction issue by suggesting two more places for spiritual/devotional channels be opened up on the DTH platform as the category was attracting high bids, thus generating more revenue for India’s pubcaster.

“We would like to draw your immediate attention to the ongoing auction of slots of DD Free Dish DTH. On the first day of the auction in the Religious Category (R1), there were 7 bidders against a reserve price of (Rs.) 3 crores. Surprisingly 3 slots were sold at (Rs.) 15-15-20 crores per annum. DD Free Dish could not earn high revenues in any other categories till now.

“Under such circumstances, we suggest you to please allot 2 more slots for Religious category (R-1) as already 4 participants are there who can bid. Undoubtedly, DD will get revenue in this category, which no other category can generate,” PHDCCI’s media, entertainment, art and culture committee chairman Mukesh Gupta said in a letter to Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur.

 

The letter further stated that as FreeDish has huge penetration in the country, especially in rural areas, “an increased number of religious channels will positively boost up the sales of DTH boxes”.

Though Gupta referred to the channels as ‘religious’, the FreeDish bid document describes the category or the genre as devotional (spiritual/AAYUSH channels). And, it is also not clear what made a chamber of commerce write to a federal minister on the matter of auctioning slots.

“Since time is short, an early action needs to be taken. We request you to look into the matter and take initiative for the betterment of the industry,” PHDCCI’s Gupta suggested to Minister Thakur.

Incidentally, the annual e-auctions for MPEG-2 slots on the free to air DTH platform, FreeDish, started on March 7 and is expected to close on March 10, if not earlier.

An earlier report by Indianbroadcastingworld.com on the FreeDish auction issue could be read here: http://www.indianbroadcastingworld.com/indias-pay-hindi-gecs-may-keep-off-dd-freedish/