DD Retro to soon broadcast classic Hindi feature films

Prasar Bharati has started the e-auction process to allocate four Hindi feature film slots per week for six months on the DD Retro channel. The broadcaster released a notification inviting applications for allotment of a total of 104 slots on October 18th, 2021. 

To be eligible for getting slots to air movies on this channel, applicants must have at least 15 satellite rights of Hindi movies that were released till the year 2000. Only ‘U’, ‘V/U’, and ‘U/A’ certified movies are eligible for telecast and a ‘parents guidance’ cautionary message needed for U/A rated films. Each movie can be repeated on the channel only after a 3 months time period. 

The auction is for 4 lots on weekends from 12 pm to 3 pm and 7 pm to 10 pm. Each lot comprises of 26 movie slots over the next 6 months and their base price is Rs 6,50,000 (additional 18% GST). Winning bidders can pay this amount in 3 instalments. 

Participating applicants have to submit documents along with a non-refundable processing fee of Rs 25,000 online. A demand draft of Rs 1,91,750 is also needed as a participation fee which will be adjusted with the base price after winning or refunded for unsuccessful bidders. 

The successful bidders can air movies in their 3-hour slots for 6 months. To generate revenue they will get 4 minutes of commercial break per half hour while an additional 2 minutes of break per half hour will be reserved for Prasar Bharati. 

If the telecasting movie is longer than 3 hours, the content owners can buy additional air time on a pro-rata basis whereas in case the movie ends in less than 3 hours, they won’t be allowed to air any other content in the remaining time. The last date to submit applications was initially November 8th, 2021 but has been extended to November 21st, 2021.