Prasar Bharati to hold 55th online e-auction for allotment of vacant MPEG-4 slots on DD Free Dish

Public broadcasting agency Prasar Bharat has announced that it will conduct the 49th online E-Auction that will be held tentatively on the August 23rd afternoon for the allotment of vacant MPEG-4 slots on DD Free Dish platform.

According to a notice, the broadcaster has invited applications for the allotment of vacant MPEG-4 slots on a pro-rata basis for the period of September 1st 2021 to March 31st 2022.

Bidding in the e-auction of MPEG-4 slots will be open for channels of all genres and it will start at a reserve price of Rs 65.34 Lakhs for the period between September 1st 2021 to March 31st 2022. Successful bidders are required to make the payments in five monthly instalments as per the policy guidelines for slot allotment and each instalment will be 1/5th of the difference of bid amount and participation fee.

Channels participating in this e-auction must pay a mandatory non-refundable processing fee of Rs 25,000 online and a participation fee of Rs 10 lakh through demand draft. Unsuccessful bidders will get back the participation fee within three weeks after the declaration of the e-auction results. The last date to submit online application and original demand draft is 23 August by 11 a.m.

Prasar Bharati had earlier through 54th e-auction sold five MPEG-2 slots for Rs 34-35 crore for a period between August 16th 2021 to March 31st 2022. Showbox, Ishara TV, Sun Marathi, Naaptol, and Enterr10 Bangla are the channels that won slots and got added on the DD Free Dish platform after the 54th e-auction.