Prasar Bharati has announced the 89th e-auction for the allotment of vacant MPEG-4 slots on DD Free Dish. 

The slots will be allocated for the period between July 11, 2025 and March 31, 2026. The e-auction is tentatively scheduled for July 2, 2025.

As per an official press note issued by Prasar Bharati, the auction is open exclusively to private television channels that are duly permitted and licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB). Additionally, international public broadcasters that meet MIB licensing requirements are also eligible to participate in the bidding process.

To ensure equitable representation across India’s linguistic and regional spectrum, the channels will be categorised into specific buckets according to language and content genre. These include:

• R1: All genres in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam
• R2: All genres in Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, and Odiya
• R3: All genres in other regional languages listed under Schedule 8 of the Constitution (excluding Hindi and Urdu) not covered under R1 and R2
• G1: News and current affairs channels
• G2: All genres of non-news and current affairs channels

Each of these categories will have a defined reserve price for the MPEG-4 slot auctions, details of which will be shared closer to the auction date. The auction is part of Prasar Bharati’s ongoing effort to optimise slot utilisation and enhance the diversity of DD Free Dish’s channel offerings, particularly in the MPEG-4 format.

Interested broadcasters must submit their applications by June 30, 2025. This initiative is expected to give regional and genre-specific content providers another opportunity to access DD Free Dish’s vast rural and free-viewership base, which continues to grow in Tier II and III cities across India.

Prasar Bharati has reiterated that the auction will follow strict compliance with MIB norms, and that the entire process will be conducted transparently via an online bidding system. The inclusion of MPEG-4 slot auctions is also aligned with technological shifts in the broadcast sector, as more homes adopt MPEG-4-enabled set-top boxes for enhanced viewing experiences.