Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati has invited applications for allotment of MPEG-4 slots on Doordarshan’s FTA DTH platform Free Dish for the period of April 2022 to March 2023.

Bidding for the MPEG-4 slots will be open to all genre (language) TV channels at a reserve price of Rs. 50,000,00 per annum.

The slots on FreeDish, which as per industry estimates has a subscriber base of about 40 million, would be decided through the fourth annual e-auction process, tentatively scheduled to be held from February 10.

The e-auction will be conducted in accordance with the policy guidelines for allotment of DD Free Dish slots, the details of which are available on the website of the pubcaster, Prasar Bharati said.

Only satellite TV channels licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) would be allowed to participate in the e-auction. The TV companies can do so directly or through their authorized distributor partners.

In case the applicant company is other than the licensee, the document/agreement signed between license holding company and an applicant-company, authorizing the applicant/bidder for distribution of the channel and bidding on behalf of the licensee, must be submitted.

International public broadcasters licensed by the MIB can also participate in the auction process.

The TV channel provider would be required to notify viewers of the need to use the Prasar Bharati-authorized STBs that could be blocked by the pubcaster if the boxes are unauthorized.

Change of name or logo of a channel placed on DD Free Dish may be allowed, subject to necessary permissions from the MIB. However, no change in genre (language) of channel, declared by applicant at the time of bidding, will be later permitted.