Prasar Bharati invites applications for e-auction of DD Free Dish MPEG-4 slots

New Delhi: Prasar Bharati has invited applications for allotment of vacant MPEG-4 slots on DD Free Dish for the period from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027. 

The public broadcaster said the 8th annual (97th) online e-auction is proposed to begin from March 16, 2026. 

Only satellite TV channels permitted and licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) can participate, it said. 

International public broadcasters permitted and licensed by the MIB can also take part. 

Prasar Bharati said the completed application and required documents must reach Doordarshan Bhawan, New Delhi, latest by March 9, 2026 (3 pm), as per the process laid down. 

For HD channels (Bucket H), the reserve price is Rs 80 lakh with a bid increment of Rs 1 lakh, and two slots are on offer. The bucket is open to all language and genre channels, the notice said. 

For regional language buckets, the reserve price for R1, R2 and R3 is Rs 5 lakh in the first round and Rs 15 lakh in the second round, with a bid increment of Rs 50,000. 

The slots available are five for R1 (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam), three for R2 (Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Odiya) and one for R3 (other regional languages, excluding Hindi and Urdu). 

Prasar Bharati has also provided for a Regional Open Round with a reserve price of Rs 20 lakh and a General Open Round at Rs 70 lakh. 

For news channels, G1 offers three slots with reserve prices of Rs 30 lakh (round one) and Rs 50 lakh (round two), while G2 offers four slots for non-news channels at the same reserve prices.