Prasar Bharati invites bids for vacant MPEG-4 slots on DD Free Dish

New Delhi: Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has issued a notification inviting applications for the 88th online e-auction of MPEG-4 slots on its free-to-air direct-to-home platform, DD Free Dish. 

The auction will tentatively be held on June 6, 2025. Applications must be submitted along with the processing fee and requisite documentation by June 4, 2025.

According to the notification, successful channels will be placed in appropriate buckets based on genre and language and will be allotted slots on a pro-rata basis from June 13, 2025, until March 31, 2026. 

The auction is open to private satellite television channels licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), subject to downlinking permission in India. Foreign channels licensed by governments outside India are also eligible, provided they obtain MIB permission and adhere to Indian regulations.

The detailed guidelines and bucket rates are available on the Prasar Bharati and DD Free Dish websites.