60 TV Channels won MPEG-2 slot in 85th e-auction: Prasar Bharati
Prasar Bharati has released the official list of winners. The channels were allotted from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, in the 85th DD FreeDish DTH platform MPEG-2 online e-auction.
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60 television channels have won the MPEG-2 slot for the period April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, in the recently concluded DD Free Dish online e-auction, according to Prasar Bharati.
The pubcaster has officially released the list of channels that won MPEG-2 slot during the e-auction.
The channels list includes Colors Rishtey, Dangal, Nazara, Shemaroo TV, Shemaroo Umang, Sony Pal, Aaj Tak, ABP News, Good News Today, India TV, NDTV India, News 18 India, Republic TV Bharat and Times Now Navbharat, among others.
Prasar Bharati invited applications for the MPEG-2 slots on January 9 and had introduced ‘e-Auction Methodology for allotment of slots on DD Free Dish platform 2025, according to which the participation fee for MPEG-2 slots was Rs 1.50 crore while of MPEG-4 slots is Rs 3 Lakhs. International Public Broadcasters permitted under relevant guidelines are also eligible to participate in e-auction.
The pubcaster also categorised TV channels in different buckets listed below:
Bucket A+ for GEC (Hindi/Urdu) channels.
Bucket A for Movies (Hindi/Urdu) channels.
Bucket B for Music, Sports, Bhojpuri channels and remaining genres of Hindi and Urdu.
Bucket C for News and Current Affairs.
Bucket D for Devotional and all genres of Marathi and Punjabi channels, News and Current Affairs (English) channels and yet to be launched/re-launched channels in 8 languages as mentioned in schedule 8 of the constitution of India.
Bucket R for all channels of regional languages and channels in operation and available in the concerned language on the date of issue of notification for e-auction on at least one private DTH platform/ DD Free Dish or at least one registered MSO.
In Round 1, the reserve price for Bucket A+ was kept at Rs 15 crore, Bucket A at Rs 12 crore, Bucket B at Rs 10 crore, Bucket C at Rs 7 crore, Bucket D at Rs 6 crore, and Bucket R at Rs 3 crore.
For Round 2, Bucket A+ at Rs 16 crore, Bucket A at Rs 13 crore, Bucket B at Rs 11 crore, Bucket C at Rs 8 crore, Bucket D at Rs 7 crore, and Bucket R at Rs 4 crore.
The eligibility criteria for channel providers participating in e-auction included only satellite TV channels permitted/ licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for downlinking/distribution in India under relevant guidelines eligible for placement on DD Free Dish.
Prasar Bharati also introduced a 75% alignment rule wherein 75% of all content should belong to the genre and language that is declared by the bidder during the application. Apart from these changes, no other transformation was implemented in the 2025 methodology.
In the 2024 MPEG-2 e-auction, Prasar Bharati reportedly earned Rs 1,156 crore from selling 64 slots.
