Amidst an action packed day two of the DD Free Dish’s e-auction for MPEG-2 slots, Prasar Bharati remains focused on achieving favouable results that align with the public broadcaster’s strategic goals.
“As the public broadcaster, we bear a dual responsibility. We need to ensure a robust revenue stream while also enabling the audience to access the widest possible range of content. So, we are striving to balance these two aspects, and hopefully, we will receive a positive response this year as well,” Prasar Bharati CEO, Gaurav Dwivedi told Storyboard18.
In 2023, Prasar Bharati’s revenue from auction of MPEG-2 slots saw a 66 percent boost, touching Rs Rs1071 crore. This bounce-back followed a 12 percent decline the previous year.
Does the pubcaster anticipate crossing this number this season?
“Accessing whether we touch 2023’s figure or surpass it would be mere speculation and there is no point in speculating. That is something that, in any case, will unfold over the next few days,” Dwivedi said.
“Our focus and constant endeavour is to provide the broadest possible range of content to the audience. Additionally, we want to ensure that the evolution of Free Dish that has happened over the years and contributed to the growth of the industry continues,” he added.
“We must ensure that the audience has a diverse selection, and we are committed to ensuring that the industry also benefits from it,” Dwivedi said.
Also read: Pubcaster secures Rs 40+ crore on day one
There is no clarity or confirmation on the number of slots are up for grabs for the April 1, 2024 -March 31, 2025 period’s e-auction. The auction for the same is expected to close on Sunday, February 25.
Prasar Bharati had made an announcement inviting applications for these slots for the period April 1, 2024-March 31, 2025 in mid January this year.
Categorisation of TV channels include six buckets.
Bucket A+ that includes, GEC-Hindi /Urdu channels, Bucket A that has movie-Hindi / Urdu channels, Bucket B with music-Hindi/Urdu channels, sports Hindi / Urdu channels, all channels of Bhojpuri Language, all other remaining genre of Hindi /Urdu, Bucket C with news and current Affairs-Hindi/UrduChannels, Bucket D, with devotional / spiritual / Ayush, all genres of Marathi and Punjabi Channels and news and current affairs English channels and Bucket R1 that has bucket for all channels in languages not covered above.
The reserve prices for round one of the buckets are Rs. 15 crore, Rs12 crore, Rs10 crore, Rs7crore, Rs6 crore and Rs3 crore.