Prasar Bharati’s DD Freedish onboards five channels on vacant MPEG-4 slots

New Delhi: Following the auction for the vacant MPEG-4 slots on June 6, Prasar Bharati has announced the successful channels. As per the notification released by the pubcaster, Dabangg, Sandesh News, Punjabi Hits, Argus, and Tabbar Hits have bagged the vacant slots on DD Freedish. 

Applications for the vacant MPEG-4 slots were accepted till June 4 and the channels have been allotted the slots on a pro-rata basis from June 13, 2025 to March 31, 2026. 

The e-auction was conducted in accordance with the e-auction methodology 2025 slated to allot DD Freedish slots to private TV channels. 

For the vacant slots, the interested broadcasters were required to apply online and submit all the requisite documents. In addition to this, a processing fee of Rs 25,000 was submitted to the pubcaster. Channels that showed interest to participate also paid a sum of Rs 3 lakh to Prasar Bharati. 

The auction of the vacant slots placed the channels in the R1, R2, R3, G1, and G2 buckets. Only satellite channels permitted and licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting were allowed to participate. The pubcaster also mentioned that only the companies holding valid permission from the I&B ministry would be allowed to participate in the e-auctions.