Prasar Bharat successfully concluded its e-auction for DD Free Dish MPEG-2 slots on Monday. They sold 64 slots for a total of approximately Rs 1157 crore, marking an 8 percent increase in revenue compared to last year’s auction of Rs 1071 crore.
This marks the second consecutive year of revenue growth for Prasar Bharati from the sale of MPEG-2 slots, following a significant 66 percent increase in 2023 compared to the previous year. The rebound came after a 12 percent decline in revenue in 2022.
The e-auction, which ran from February 19, 2024, sold slots for the period April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025. DD Free Dish boasts a reach of 43-45 million households, making it a significant platform for broadcasters.
Categorisation of TV channels included six buckets. Bucket A+(GEC-Hindi /Urdu Channels), Bucket A (Movie-Hindi / Urdu Channels), Bucket B (Music-Hindi/Urdu Channels, Sports Hindi / Urdu Channels, All Channels of Bhojpuri Language, All other remaining Genre of Hindi /Urdu), Bucket C (News and Current Affairs-Hindi/UrduChannels), Bucket D(Devotional / Spiritual / Ayush, All Genres of Marathi and Punjabi Channels and News and Current Affairs English Channels) and Bucket R1(bucket for all Channels in languages not covered above).