DD Free Dish to hold 44th E Auction for allotment of MPEG 2 slots

State run Direct to Home (DTH) service DD Free Dish has invited applications for the 44th E Auction which will be held next month for the allotment of MPEG 2 slots for a 1 year period. The satellite TV channels will be allotted slots for the period 01 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

The 44th online e-auction process is likely to be held from 24 February. The MPEG 2 slots e-auction will be held as per the policy guidelines notified last year and amended as and when. Satellite TV channels licensed by the I&B Ministry can only participate in the auction while those having a letter for the distribution of the channel from the license holder can also participate.

TV channels participating in the auction will be categorised on the basis of genre/language with reserve price set for all buckets. Bucket A+ will carry Hindi GEC channels at a reserve price of Rs 15 crore. Bucket A will have Hindi Movie channels at a reserve price of Rs 12 crore.

Music channels, Sports channels, Bhojpuri GEC/Movie channels, and Teleshopping channels will have a reserve price of Rs 10 crore in bucket B. Hindi, Punjabi and English news channels will have a reserve price of Rs 7 crore in bucket C. All other remaining channels will have a reserve price of Rs 6 crore in bucket D.

Bucket R1 will carry spiritual channels including channels promoting yoga, Ayurveda, Health & Wellness (Ayush) based on traditional methods at a reserve price of Rs 3 crore.

Broadcasters desirous of placing their channel on DD Free Dish have to declare their genre and language of the channel in line with the Tariff Order 2017. The last date for submission of applications is 18 February.