Commentary: Why is TRAI silent on DD Free Dish monopoly, which is killing the news genre?
The regulator played a role of mute spectator as news channels shelled out exorbitant prices to grab a year-long slot on the free-to-air distribution platform. Why is it not putting a cap on Free Dish pricing as it did with channelsâ MRP? Delhi, March 04, 2021
What happened during the recently concluded e-auction of DD Free Dish for the news genre, where channels shelled out exorbitant prices to grab a year-long slot on the free-to-air distribution platform, is no less than âshooting themselves in the footâ.
Experts feel paying 40-50% of distribution cost for reaching 15% of audience with least buying capacity makes no business sense as this escalated cost cannot be recovered from advertising
57 MPEG-2 slots have been sold
01 Mar, 2021 - 03:06 PM IST | By indiantelevision.com Team
KOLKATA: Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has seen a significant jump in the overall sales of MPEG-2 slots at the 52nd e-auction of DD Free Dish. It has raked in Rs 731.34 crore from the sale of 57 MPEG-2 slots, compared to Rs 594.25 crore collected from the sales of 53 slots in March 2020.
The third annual e-auction was conducted from 22 February and ended on 27 February. Applications were received for e-auction under six different buckets. 57 channels were allocated slots on various buckets after multiple rounds of robust bidding.
The channels will come on air on the free-to-air DTH platform from 1 April, subject to completion of all formalities.