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Tag: DD Free Dish

  • Dangal TV grows on the back of mythological shows

    Dangal TV grows on the back of mythological shows

    Mumbai: Mythological shows have swept the country by storm in times when audiences are forced to be confined to homes. Leading Hindi GEC Dangal is ensuring they are providing the best mythological mix with shows like Anand Sagar’s Ramayan, Chandragupt Maurya, Mahima Shani Dev Ki and Dwarkadheesh: Bhagwan Shree Krishna.  

    As per data by BARC, Impressions for Dangal TV recorded a growth of 7 per cent in week as compared to the previous week. The channel’s reach also catapulted by additional 2 million in week 17 while time spent has increased by 5 per cent over the previous week. The launch of ‘Ramayan’ on April 26, 2020 led to 45 per cent growth for the slot for the week. The channel continues to lead as the No. 1 channel in the Hindi GEC – free platform category with 3 programmes – Baba Aiso Var Dhundo, Mahima Shani Dev Ki, and Ramayan featuring in the Top 5 programmes in Week 17. 

    A Dangal spokesperson said: “Dangal is committed to keeping its viewers entertained even in these tough times. Having understood the pulse of our viewers and that mythological content continues to have a strong appeal, we introduced some very popular and interesting shows like Chandragupt Maurya, and Mahima Shani Dev Ki. We also introduced the 2008 remake of Ramayan which has been received exceptionally. This has helped the slot grow by 45 per cent. We have also increased the slot to air an additional episode thus giving our viewers an entire hour dedicated to Ramayan daily. We will continue to keep up to our promise of entertaining our viewers across India. "

    Mythological shows have become the guiding light for the country at a time when fresh content is unavailable. 

    Dangal TV, in the world of entertainment, is a brand synonymous with constantly delivering diverse stories. The channel is a pioneer in presenting shows, across genres including Mythological stories Fiction drama, Crime, Super Natural, Horror, etc.  Dangal is available on all leading cable networks and DTH platforms – DD Free Dish (CHN NO 27), Tata Sky(CHN NO 177), Airtel (CHN NO 133), Dish TV (CHN NO 119) and Videocon D2H (CHN NO 106).

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  • FTA channels seek waiver of carriage fees

    FTA channels seek waiver of carriage fees

    MUMBAI: A consortium of free-to-air (FTA) broadcasters whose channels are placed on Prasar Bharati’s DTH platform DD free dish has requested information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar for a waiver of 100 per cent carriage fees for the first quarter (April-June) and 50 per cent for the second quarter (July-September) for those channels that have secured MPEG-2 slots during the recent 44th e-auction. 

    The consortium has sought the minister’s intervention in this matter so that the broadcasting sector can tide over the current situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In a letter to the minister, the FTA channels’ heads stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted all sectors of the Indian economy. 

    “Advertisement bookings have nosedived by 80 per cent. Commercial advertisements are the sole revenue stream for free-to-air channels to support all its costs of content, operations, carriage, marketing and transmission, and in the current scenario, we have been struggling to deal with a steep de-growth and the biggest impact is on advertising revenues that is likely to see a 70-80 per cent pullback,” said the letter.

    The broadcasters said that in line with government’s vision of making best of entertainment accessible freely to all socio-economical class of the population through the DD free dish platform, all the FTA channels play a very important role especially for the poorer sections of our society and thus its commercial and sustainability must be taken into consideration.

    Thanking the government for including electronic media which reaches the length and breadth of the nation as one of the essential services during the lockdown period, the broadcasters assured that they intend to continue reaching out to our millions of viewers on a daily basis “and for which our teams are working tirelessly.”

    When in March the channels reached out for waiving carriage fees for the April-June quarter, they got a letter on 7 April offering a deferred payment schedule instead of a three-month waiver, and “that too with a provision for furnishing a bank guarantee.”

    The FTA channels, in their letter, said that this would not serve the purpose at this juncture, “but instead put additional hardships on the company in terms of bank guarantee charges, interest payments and GST amounts with effectively no relief on the total carriage fee payments.”

    In light of the current adverse business environment, the said letter, their request “requires a lot more sympathetic consideration, considering our revenues have been eroded.” There are a few channels which have been recently launched and they are bearing the brunt with no revenues at all.

    The channels intimated the minister that with dwindling revenues, it will be difficult for them to pay employees’ salaries, which will affect hundreds of livelihoods.  

    Signatories to the letter:

    Pradeep Guha, MD, 9X Media Pvt. Ltd.                               

    Aditya Pittie, MD, IN 10 Media Pvt. Ltd.

    Ajit Joshi, Director, SwamiFilm Entertainment Pvt. Ltd & SuperHit Broadcasting Pvt. Ltd.

    Sahib Chopra, Director, Shopping Bazaar Pvt. Ltd.

    Manoranjan TV, Manoranjan Movies & Manoranjan Grand

    Hitesh Sabharwal, CEO, Cinema 24*7 Pvt. Ltd.

    Dr. Darshan Singh & Vishvajit Sharma, Chairman & MD, Teleone Consumers Product Pvt. Ltd.

     Maha Movie, Maha Punjabi, Lord Buddha TV

     Ranvir Singh, Director, Skystar Entertainment Pvt. Ltd

     Rakesh Gupta, Sadhna Media Group

    BP Aggarwal, MD, Surya Sagar Communication Pvt. Ltd., Surya Cinema & Surya Bhojpuri

    Kailasnath Adhikari, promoter, Sri Adhikari Brothers- TV Vision Ltd.

    Natasha Fernandes, Director, B4U Broadband (India) Pvt. Ltd.

    Santosh Garg, Ashirwad Telenetwork Pvt. Ltd.

    Manish Shah, Director, Goldmines Telefilms Pvt ltd

    Sandeep Gupta, Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd.

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  • NBA seeks extension from I&B ministry to pay DD Free Dish carriage fee

    NBA seeks extension from I&B ministry to pay DD Free Dish carriage fee

    MUMBAI: With ad sales down and operation costs up, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has sought an extension from the ministry of information and broadcasting for payment of the carriage fee for slots on DD Free Dish.

    According to a report by The Hindu, sources have confirmed that Prasar Bharati has agreed to allow news channels to continue to air on DD Free Dish from 1 April without the payment. However, NBA and Prasar Bharati are working on an alternate model of payment that requires the news channels to pay an interest of 5.7 per cent per annum, which has miffed the association's broadcasters.

    NBA president Rajat Sharma, in a letter to I&B minister Prakash Javdekar, wrote, “Advertising inventory bookings are lower than 50 per cent even for the top-rated news channels — advertising is a single source of earning for news broadcasters and this will lead to a serious cash-flow problem.”

    With 26 slots reserved for Doordarshan-run channels, DD Free Dish has 80 slots in all, of which 54 are open for bidding by private channels. These DD Free Dish channels reach out to at least 30 million households, without paying a monthly subscription.

  • 9X Jalwa now available on DD Free Dish

    9X Jalwa now available on DD Free Dish

    MUMBAI: 9X Media’s all-time hits Bollywood music channel 9X Jalwa is now also available on India’s only free direct-to-home service DD Free Dish. 9X Jalwa can be viewed on DD Free Dish at LCN #64.

    9X Media executive vice-president, distribution Nitin Sharma said, “We are pleased that 9X Jalwa will now be widely available across a large number of households through DD Free Dish. The subscribers of DD Free Dish can now enjoy their daily dose of hit Bollywood songs which are aired on 9X Jalwa. The channel has received a fantastic response from the viewers since the very beginning, making 9X Jalwa one of the most preferred channels for all time hit Bollywood music.”

    9X Jalwa programming head Abbas Syed said, “The music curation and the special programming of Jalwa are targeted towards the young music lovers. We are very excited to have Jalwa on DD Free Dish and have put together some special music blocks and also reintroduced the popular and funny animated characters – Halkat Sawaal that our audiences can enjoy, have a good laugh while being safe at home during this lockdown period. Music has the power to heal and lift the spirits and our endeavour would be to do just that!”

    Launched on 25 February 2012, 9X Jalwa has a strong social media connect across all the digital platforms. The channel is widely available across cable networks, direct-to-home platforms as well as OTT platforms.

  • No assessment made on impact of NTO 2.0 on DD Free Dish: I&B minister

    No assessment made on impact of NTO 2.0 on DD Free Dish: I&B minister

    NEW DELHI: No assessment on the impact of new tariff order (NTO 2.0) on the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati’s free DTH platform DD Free Dish has been carried out by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), revealed I&B minister Prakash Javadekar in response to a question by Congress MP Manish Tewari in the parliament.

    Tewari had asked whether TRAI has conducted an assessment of how regulations issued on 1 January 2020 impact the growth and popularity of Doordarshan’s Free Dish platform, to which Javadekar responded, “No such assessment has been conducted by TRAI.”

    He also added that the main objectives of the regulatory framework are to establish a harmonised business process in the sector, ensure level playing field, bring in transparency in TV channel pricing, reduce litigations among stakeholders and provide equal opportunities to smaller multi-system operators (MSOs).

    He also noted that TRAI notified the regulatory framework on 3 March 2017 for broadcasting and cable services after due consultation with the stakeholders. “In order to address the issues faced by the consumers, while balancing the interest of broadcasters as well as the distribution platform operators (DPOs) to create a level playing field, TRAI, after due consultation with the stakeholders, issued amendments to the regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable services sector on 01.01.2020.” 

  • 54 channels submit bids for 44th DD Free Dish e-auction

    54 channels submit bids for 44th DD Free Dish e-auction

    MUMBAI: Fifty four channels have submitted bids for the 44th DD Free Dish e-auction, which will be tentatively held on 24 February for MPEG-2 slots.

    HSM channels: 

    According to sources close to the development, two Hindi GECs Dangal and Big Magic have bid for the auction. Among other HSM channels, seven Hindi music channels including Showbox, 9XM, MTV Beats and eleven Hindi movie channels like B4U Movies, Enter10 are also looking at vacant MPEG-2 slots. All the major players like News18 India, NDTV India, Zee News, Aaj Tak, Republic Bharat have also placed their bids.

    Regional channels: 

    In the regional cluster seven Bhojpuri channels including Big Magic Ganga, Zee Biscope, B4U Bhojpuri, one Marathi channel, four Punjabi channels and four regional news channels have placed their bids. Moreover, four religious channels are also participating the auction.

    Recently DD Free dish increased MPEG-2 slots on its platform. Private TV channels can participate in this e-auction to add TV channels on DD Free Dish, for the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. In the 42nd e-auction for allotment of 8 MPEG-2 slots the channels that came on board were mostly new.

    As per the rules mentioned by the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, only satellite channels licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) would be allowed to participate in the allocation. International Public Broadcasters licensed/ registered/permitted by the MIB can also participate in the e-auction.

  • Prasar Bharati sells four MPEG-4 slots for Rs 66 lakh

    Prasar Bharati sells four MPEG-4 slots for Rs 66 lakh

    MUMBAI: Prasar Bharati has sold four DD Free Dish MPEG 4 slots on pro-rata basis for the period from 1 February 2020 to 14 March 2020 to four channels for Rs 66 lakh. The channels are Samay (Hindi News), 9X Jalwa (Hindi Music), Sangeet Bangla (Bangla Music) and JK 24×7 News (Hindi News). 

    Bidding in the e-auction of MPEG-4 slots was open to all genres (language) channels at a reserve price of Rs 16,50,000. 

    On 10 January, Prasar Bharati had invited application from the channels licensed by the ministry of information and broadcasting. International public broadcasters licensed/registered by the Ministry of I&B were also allowed to participate in the e-auction.

    The public broadcaster has instructed that the allotted channels to pay the amount in two installments along with the carriage fee and applicable GST. The channel will have to pay the first installment in advance by 30 January 2020 i.e before placement of channel on DD Free Dish DTH Platform and second installment to be payable by 27 February 2020 after adjusting the participation fee amount.  

    In November 2019, it had sold MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish on pro-rata basis for the period from 1 December 2019 to 29 February 2020 to eight channels for approx Rs 18.9 crore. The channels were ABZY Cool in Movies genre (Hindi) under bucket A; Showbox in Music genre (Hindi) under bucket B; Ganga Biskope in Movies genre (Bhojpuri) under bucket B; WOW in Music genre (Hindi) under bucket B; TV9 Bharatvarsh News genre (Hindi) under C; ABP Ganga in genre (Hindi) under bucket C; Zee Punjabi in others (PUnjabi) under bucket D and MR TV in others (Marathi) under Bucket D. For MPEG 2 slot the pubcaster had reserved the starting price of bucket A for Rs 3.11 crore; bucket B for Rs 2.73 crore; bucket C for Rs 2.23 crore and bucket D for Rs 1.55 crore.

  • Cable Operators Welfare Federation counters IBF’s comments regarding NCF and NTO 2.0

    Cable Operators Welfare Federation counters IBF’s comments regarding NCF and NTO 2.0

    MUMBAI: The Cable Operators Welfare Federation (COWF) has countered the IBF’s claims regarding NCF. The IBF had said that by keeping NCF at Rs 160, distributors could charge for something that DD Free Dish is giving out free.

    COWF said that DD Free Dish is run on taxpayers’ money and channels pay a hefty sum to get a slot on it which they recover through ad rev.

    In a letter, the COWF has said that since the advent of the TV business, broadcasters have been portraying the LCO community in poor light as “cheaters/goons who never declared proper numbers”.

    The letter states, “This is perhaps a rare industry where a major stakeholder blames its distributors whenever things do not go their way. Once commercial terms are achieved, things go back to normal.” It goes on to say that broadcasters are also guilty of showing inflated declarations such as reach in order to gain advertisement tariff.

    Over the years, cable operators have constantly kept abreast of all the latest technologies. MSOs and LCOs also run a business and need to recover costs, just as broadcasters, the letter goes on to mention.

    “On the NCF, our observation in the past year is that its calculation is cumbersome and many customers still do not understand it and it takes a lot of our time explaining to customers how we have billed them. Hence we had suggested that a higher limit be set up for a fixed NCF for SD channels and HD channels, just as broadcasters were permitted a higher cap of Rs 19 per month, which will give us the freedom to charge as per different market scenarios and as per our ROW needs,” the letter states.

    It even mentions that LCOs have tried to limit the rate increase by passing on benefits to customers. Some smaller MSOs have passed on the benefits to LCOs. Many MSOs have several channels in the FTA pack because they earn from carriage, marketing and placement fees, the letter adds.

    In the end, the COWF requests the broadcaster community to work together. “We are open to discuss all means by which we can reduce NCF on a mutual basis as long as you can find ways to ensure that our revenues are protected,” it says.

  • Prasar Bharati sells DD Free Dish MPEG-2 slots to 8 channels

    Prasar Bharati sells DD Free Dish MPEG-2 slots to 8 channels

    MUMBAI: Prasar Bharati has announced the result of the 42nd e-auction for allotment of MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish on pro-rata basis for the period from 1 December 2019 to 29 February 2020. The slot has been sold to eight channels for approx Rs 18.9 crore.

    The pubcaster has sold eight MPEG-2 slot to ABZY Cool in Movies genre (Hindi) under bucket A; Showbox in Music genre (Hindi) under bucket B; Ganga Biskope in Movies genre (Bhojpuri) under bucket B; WOW in Music genre (Hindi) under bucket B; TV9 Bharatvarsh News genre (Hindi) under C; ABP Ganga in genre (Hindi) under bucket C; Zee Punjabi in others (PUnjabi) under bucket D and MR TV in others (Marathi) under Bucket D.

    The pubcaster had reserved the starting price of bucket A for Rs 3.11 crore; bucket B for Rs 2.73 crore; bucket C for Rs 2.23 crore and bucket D for Rs 1.55 crore.

    On 4 November, Prasar Bharati had invited applications from satellite TV channels to fill MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish DTH platform on prorata basis for the period from 1 December 2019 to 29 February 2020 through the 42nd on-line e-auction process, stating that "The slots will be allotted as per procedure explained in Clause (r) of Annexure-2 of the policy guidelines for allotment of DD Free Dish slots, notified on 15.01.2019 and as amended vide amendment notified on 01.11.2019."

  • Prasar Bharati increases MPEG-2 slot capacity on DD Free Dish

    Prasar Bharati increases MPEG-2 slot capacity on DD Free Dish

    MUMBAI: Prasar Bharati has invited applications from satellite TV channels to fill MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish DTH platform on prorata basis for the period from 1 December 2019 to 29 February 2020 through the 42nd on-line e-auction process. This time the pubcaster is not filling up the vacant slot but calling broadcasters to fill-up new or additional space on MPEG 2. Prasar Bharati has increased the capacity of equipment which allows to add few more channels in MPEG 2.  

    A senior official who is aware of the development said, "The slot is not vacant. There is an addition in the capacity, we have increased the capacity of the spectrum efficient equipment, so that we can have more channels." 

    The public broadcaster will allot the slots as per the recently amended guidelines for allotment of DD Free Dish slots. International Public Broadcasters licensed/registered by the Ministry of I&B can also participate in e-auction. Broadcasters can submit their application by November 13, 2019.

    The Policy guidelines for allotment of slots of DD Free Dish Direct-to-Home Platform to satellite TV channels (Second amendments), 2019 has substituted some of the sub-clauses. Sub-item iii under item A of Clause 3 has been substituted as “Prasar Bharati Management is authorized to take decision on reservation for the genre, and on the number of slots to be reserved deemed to be in public interest.”

    As per the new amendment pubcaster can reserve some slots in the MPEG-4 stream for placement of foreign Public Service Broadcasting Channels either on reciprocal basis/barter basis or on invitation basis for strategic collaborations, subject to availability of slots and if the broadcaster's willingness to match the last highest bid for MPEG-4 slot.

    It can also reserve some slots for placement of co-branded channels on a case to case basis; expansion into HD; & placement of DD Regional Channels. “The Prasar Bharati Management will be authorized to take a decision on such reservation. However the placement of co-branded channels on a case to case basis will be with the approval of Prasar Bharati Board,” the notification said.

    In the policy Guidelines, for sub-item ii of item r of Annexure -2, the following sub-item is substituted as, “In case, five or more vacant slots are available, then one slot will be reserved for each Bucket in the first round. In case no application is received for a particular Bucket, then there will be no reserved slot in that Bucket.”

    It further said, “After the completion of first round auction of one slot so reserved in Buckets, the remaining slots will be auctioned Bucket-wise starting from A+ and will progressively go down from Bucket A+ to Bucket D till such time there are no bidders in a given bucket or there are no vacant slot left. If the number of vacant slots is less than five, the auction will proceed from Bucket A+ downwards, without observing any reservation of slots in any Bucket, and will progressively go from Bucket A+ to Bucket D till such time there are no bidders in a given bucket or there is no vacant slot left. The slot fee will be determined on a pro-rata basis using the previous highest bid price for that bucket.”