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MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms, India’s
leading production house, is ready to
buy a primetime slot on pubcaster
Doordarshan to put its content up for
competition against private general
entertainment channels.
There are six other production
houses who have submitted
applications to bid for primetime
slots on DD. They are Contiloe,
Cinevistaas, Keylight Productions,
Optymistix, Rash Productions and
Shakuntalam Telefilms.
“There are production houses that
have applied for slots. Their
applications will be scrutinised. After
that, we will know who is eligible to
bid. There is a lot of paper work
involved. More or less all the slots
have been filled up. I am told there
are two to three applicants for each
slot,” Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar
Sircar told TelevisionPost.com.
According to Sircar, the slot auction
will usher in an era of transparency
for DD. “If we get through this, it will
be a major victory for transparency.
There is a small section in DD which
is against any sort of transparency.
But I am confident that we will be
able to complete the process. This is
the first time we are going for open
bidding,” he said.
The pubcaster will scrutinise the bid
documents to see whether the
applicants meet the eligibility criteria.
Once the scrutiny process is over,
the pubcaster will put out the list of
qualified bidders on 13 July.
This will be followed by the e-auction
of primetime programming slots on
18 and 19 July. The letter of award
to the successful bidders will be
issued on 28 July.
The procedural formalities, agreement
and performance bank guarantee will
be completed by 13 September. The
successful production houses will
have to launch programmes in the
first/second/third week of October.
Sircar is confident that the auctioning
of slots will benefit DD. “Once the
producer puts in the money, he or
she will ensure that the content is
good. We are a public broadcaster.
We can’t spend so much money to
compete with the main Hindi GECs
run by private broadcasters. Once we
are through with this process, I am
sure we will be up there,” he said,
citing the example of cricket where
despite zero marketing DD rakes in
high viewership.
DD decided to do away with the
strategy of acquiring programmes
through commissioning/self-finance
commissioning (SFC) route as it had
led to a dip in viewership of DD
National and decreasing revenue.
Accordingly, DD decided to sell time
slot /time bands on DD National as a
strategy to source high-quality
content.
As per the eligibility criteria set out
in the request for proposal (RFP), the
production house should be a
company registered under Companies
Act 1956/2013 and should be in
operation for at least the last three
financial years.
It must have produced, for any
broadcaster(s), at least 300 hours of
Hindi general entertainment
programming in the last two calendar
years. It should have a turnover of at
least Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) per
annum in each of the last three
financial years from TV production.
The production house should not be
a defaulter of DD at the time of
submission of the bid. Any
production house that owes money to
DD and/or with whom any suit/
arbitration is pending for recovery of
outstanding dues will be treated as a
defaulter. The decision of DD in this
regard will be final and binding.
No consortium will be allowed in any
form. The bidder should not have
been blacklisted by Central/state
government/PSU.
Six slots from 7 to 10.30 pm is
available from Monday to Friday. Two
slots are available from Monday to
Thursday between 10 and 11 pm. On
weekends, the 7–8 pm slot is only
available for Sundays. The 8–10 pm
slots are available on Saturday and
Sunday.
The reserve price for weekday slots
is Rs 200,000 while in the case of
weekend it is Rs 400,000.
As per the rules, bidders can apply
for one or more sequence of slots in
the same time band running over a
certain number of days in a week
(Monday–Thursday; Monday–Friday;
Saturday & Sunday).
Each sequence of slots will be e-
auctioned separately. Normally, one
production house will not be allowed
to take more than three sequences of
slots out of the available sequences
of slots (serial nos 1–8) and two
slots out of the available slots as
given above (serial nos 9–11).
Bids can be offered for various slots
applied for, but once the bidder is
declared the winner of three slots
(slot nos 1–8), he cannot bid further
for any other weekday slots.
Similarly, if a bidder is declared
winner of two slots (slot nos 9–11),
s/he cannot bid further for the other
weekend slots.
Out of 30 minutes in a slot, six
minutes will be used for
commercials. Out of these six
minutes, the successful bidder will
get 4 minutes while 2 minutes will
be retained by DD for promotion of
programmes or channels, for
advertisements of government
departments and PSUs, and for public
service messages. The remaining 24
minutes will be used for
programmes.
Successful bidders may also
purchase additional spots or
commercial time from Doordarshan,
depending on availability, on
prevailing terms and conditions. They
would also be free to procure
advertisements from all clients within
their entitlement to free commercial
time (FCT) with the exception of
government and PSU clients. Thus,
bidders will not be allowed to solicit
government/PSU advertisements in
their allotted 4 minutes of
commercial time or in the extra time
purchased by them.
In the first six months, there will be
no increase in the slot fee.
Thereafter, it may be increased up to
a maximum of 10% for the next block
of six months on the basis of the
prescribed formula based on gross
viewership in lakhs (GVLs of BARC).
This may go up to a maximum of
15% during the second year and a
maximum of 25% during the third
year, based on the same formula.
leading production house, is ready to
buy a primetime slot on pubcaster
Doordarshan to put its content up for
competition against private general
entertainment channels.
There are six other production
houses who have submitted
applications to bid for primetime
slots on DD. They are Contiloe,
Cinevistaas, Keylight Productions,
Optymistix, Rash Productions and
Shakuntalam Telefilms.
“There are production houses that
have applied for slots. Their
applications will be scrutinised. After
that, we will know who is eligible to
bid. There is a lot of paper work
involved. More or less all the slots
have been filled up. I am told there
are two to three applicants for each
slot,” Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar
Sircar told TelevisionPost.com.
According to Sircar, the slot auction
will usher in an era of transparency
for DD. “If we get through this, it will
be a major victory for transparency.
There is a small section in DD which
is against any sort of transparency.
But I am confident that we will be
able to complete the process. This is
the first time we are going for open
bidding,” he said.
The pubcaster will scrutinise the bid
documents to see whether the
applicants meet the eligibility criteria.
Once the scrutiny process is over,
the pubcaster will put out the list of
qualified bidders on 13 July.
This will be followed by the e-auction
of primetime programming slots on
18 and 19 July. The letter of award
to the successful bidders will be
issued on 28 July.
The procedural formalities, agreement
and performance bank guarantee will
be completed by 13 September. The
successful production houses will
have to launch programmes in the
first/second/third week of October.
Sircar is confident that the auctioning
of slots will benefit DD. “Once the
producer puts in the money, he or
she will ensure that the content is
good. We are a public broadcaster.
We can’t spend so much money to
compete with the main Hindi GECs
run by private broadcasters. Once we
are through with this process, I am
sure we will be up there,” he said,
citing the example of cricket where
despite zero marketing DD rakes in
high viewership.
DD decided to do away with the
strategy of acquiring programmes
through commissioning/self-finance
commissioning (SFC) route as it had
led to a dip in viewership of DD
National and decreasing revenue.
Accordingly, DD decided to sell time
slot /time bands on DD National as a
strategy to source high-quality
content.
As per the eligibility criteria set out
in the request for proposal (RFP), the
production house should be a
company registered under Companies
Act 1956/2013 and should be in
operation for at least the last three
financial years.
It must have produced, for any
broadcaster(s), at least 300 hours of
Hindi general entertainment
programming in the last two calendar
years. It should have a turnover of at
least Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) per
annum in each of the last three
financial years from TV production.
The production house should not be
a defaulter of DD at the time of
submission of the bid. Any
production house that owes money to
DD and/or with whom any suit/
arbitration is pending for recovery of
outstanding dues will be treated as a
defaulter. The decision of DD in this
regard will be final and binding.
No consortium will be allowed in any
form. The bidder should not have
been blacklisted by Central/state
government/PSU.
Six slots from 7 to 10.30 pm is
available from Monday to Friday. Two
slots are available from Monday to
Thursday between 10 and 11 pm. On
weekends, the 7–8 pm slot is only
available for Sundays. The 8–10 pm
slots are available on Saturday and
Sunday.
The reserve price for weekday slots
is Rs 200,000 while in the case of
weekend it is Rs 400,000.
As per the rules, bidders can apply
for one or more sequence of slots in
the same time band running over a
certain number of days in a week
(Monday–Thursday; Monday–Friday;
Saturday & Sunday).
Each sequence of slots will be e-
auctioned separately. Normally, one
production house will not be allowed
to take more than three sequences of
slots out of the available sequences
of slots (serial nos 1–8) and two
slots out of the available slots as
given above (serial nos 9–11).
Bids can be offered for various slots
applied for, but once the bidder is
declared the winner of three slots
(slot nos 1–8), he cannot bid further
for any other weekday slots.
Similarly, if a bidder is declared
winner of two slots (slot nos 9–11),
s/he cannot bid further for the other
weekend slots.
Out of 30 minutes in a slot, six
minutes will be used for
commercials. Out of these six
minutes, the successful bidder will
get 4 minutes while 2 minutes will
be retained by DD for promotion of
programmes or channels, for
advertisements of government
departments and PSUs, and for public
service messages. The remaining 24
minutes will be used for
programmes.
Successful bidders may also
purchase additional spots or
commercial time from Doordarshan,
depending on availability, on
prevailing terms and conditions. They
would also be free to procure
advertisements from all clients within
their entitlement to free commercial
time (FCT) with the exception of
government and PSU clients. Thus,
bidders will not be allowed to solicit
government/PSU advertisements in
their allotted 4 minutes of
commercial time or in the extra time
purchased by them.
In the first six months, there will be
no increase in the slot fee.
Thereafter, it may be increased up to
a maximum of 10% for the next block
of six months on the basis of the
prescribed formula based on gross
viewership in lakhs (GVLs of BARC).
This may go up to a maximum of
15% during the second year and a
maximum of 25% during the third
year, based on the same formula.
