DD Free Dish e-auction rules tightened: Bucket R removed, auction ladder shortened

New Delhi: Prasar Bharati on Friday issued the first amendment to its DD Free Dish e-auction methodology notified on January 3, 2025, tightening the MPEG-2 auction map by removing the separate “Bucket R” construct and folding all Schedule 8 regional-language channels (except Hindi and Urdu) into Bucket D. The amendment takes effect from the date of notification, January 9, 2026.

Regional-language map reset for MPEG-2

The biggest practical change is in how regional channels are categorised for MPEG-2 slots.

In the 2025 methodology, regional languages were split across two places: Marathi and Punjabi were explicitly included in Bucket D, while all other Schedule 8 regional languages (excluding Hindi, Urdu, Marathi and Punjabi) were placed in a separate Bucket R with its own reserve price, reserved slot count and bidding windows. That entire Bucket R framework has now been removed.

Bucket D has been expanded to cover all genres of Schedule 8 regional languages except Hindi and Urdu, bringing Marathi and Punjabi into the same consolidated line as other regional languages.

The entry price moves up for regional players

This reset changes the “on-ramp” for regional channels on MPEG-2. Bucket R earlier carried a lower starting reserve price of Rs 3 crore in the first round and Rs 4 crore in its final round.

With Bucket R removed, the relevant entry point becomes Bucket D’s reserve price, which remains Rs 6 crore for Round 1 and Rs 7 crore for the later stage that begins with Bucket D.

Bucket D simplified, and a small clean-up in Bucket B

The amendment also alters the make-up of Bucket D. In 2025, Bucket D was a mixed bucket that included devotional/spiritual/ayush channels, all genres of Marathi and Punjabi channels, English news and current affairs, and a carve-out for yet-to-be-launched or re-launched regional-language channels (Schedule 8 languages excluding Hindi and Urdu), subject to eligibility.

In the amended text, Bucket D is presented in three parts: devotional/spiritual/ayush channels, all Schedule 8 regional-language channels except Hindi and Urdu, and English news and current affairs. The specific “yet-to-be-launched/re-launched regional channels” line that appeared earlier does not feature in the amended Bucket D description.

Bucket B also sees a minor but visible tightening. The residual Hindi/Urdu category is now described as “all other remaining Genre of Hindi/Urdu, not mentioned in other buckets,” making the residual nature explicit.

The auction ladder becomes shorter

On the bidding rounds for MPEG-2, the earlier ladder ran through seven rounds because the methodology ended with a regional-only stage. Under the 2025 rules, the auction sequence eventually reached a final round where only Bucket R applicants could bid, after earlier rounds progressively restricted eligibility from A+ to A to B to C to D to R.

With Bucket R removed, the round structure now ends at Bucket D. The amended reserve-price table for the later rounds lists only six rounds, and the final stage is now the Bucket D round where only Bucket D bidders are eligible. A direct operational fallout is that the reserved-slot block that existed specifically for Bucket R in the first phase of the auction is no longer part of the MPEG-2 process.

Eligibility tweak: “must already be in operation” drops out of MPEG-2

The amendment also changes the eligibility language around “must already be in operation” conditions.

In 2025, this operational-availability requirement applied to MPEG-2 Bucket R as well as MPEG-4 Buckets R1, R2 and R3. The amended wording drops the MPEG-2 reference entirely. The “must be in operation and available in the concerned language on at least one private DTH/DD Free Dish and/or at least one registered MSO” condition now applies only to MPEG-4 regional buckets R1, R2 and R3.

What stays the same on pricing

What does not change is the core reserve-price structure for the larger Hindi/Urdu buckets. Round 1 reserve prices remain the same for Bucket A+ (Rs 15 crore), Bucket A (Rs 12 crore), Bucket B (Rs 10 crore), Bucket C (Rs 7 crore) and Bucket D (Rs 6 crore). The step-up rounds also retain the same starting prices: Rs 16 crore for the stage beginning with A+, Rs 13 crore for A, Rs 11 crore for B, Rs 8 crore for C, and Rs 7 crore for D.

The key difference is that the auction ladder now runs without a separate regional bucket at the end, and Schedule 8 regional-language channels (except Hindi and Urdu) are positioned within Bucket D’s structure and pricing.

Prasar Bharati has termed this notification as the first amendment to the 2025 methodology. The changes apply from January 9, 2026.