DTH
Tata Sky ventures into curated short content with Shorts TV
MUMBAI: India’s leading DTH player Tata Sky has entered into a partnership with a London-based television channel Shorts TV for its new platform Tata Sky ShortsTV.
The newly launched platform is one of a kind in the country, dedicated to curated short stories and films. The subscription price for this service has been fixed at Rs. 75 per month. Along with availability on the telly screen, the service is also available on the mobile app as well as the DTH operator’s website.
“We were always keen to bring beautiful short form content on our platform, but we needed to find the partner who did it right. That’s how we found Shorts TV team who really knew how to curate short films properly,” Tata Sky chief content officer Arun Unni said, announcing the launch of the new service here yesterday.
Shorts International Ltd chief executive Carter Pilcher, who mentioned they had scouted for other Indian partners, said, “We are thrilled to partner with Tata Sky. They’re India’s cutting-edge content distributor and as their launch of Tata Sky ShortsTV proves, they’re way ahead of the crowd.”
Pilcher added that the new Tata Sky ShortsTV service was a good addition to the DTH operator’s value-added services portfolio and will be a “huge success with millennial audiences”.
ShortsTV has also partnered with Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films to bring a flood of India’s most original and powerful short films to the Tata Sky platform.
The curated platform will feature a line-up of ,2000 premium titles, including the best of Oscars, Cannes, etc. apart from a comprehensive collection of recent Indian short stories and films. There will be original content in regional languages also. Interestingly, there are also collaborations with some of the Indian film schools, including Hindi film director-producer Subhash Ghai-promoted Whistling Woods.
“Tata Sky ShortsTV aims to be that destination where a curated selection of 2000+ of the world’s best short films can be enjoyed on a 24×7 basis. Our partner has worked hard for more than a year to localize the proposition with 500+ Indian short films,” Unni explained.
Though Unni did not mention the targeted subscriber number, he did admit a good service goes to 10-15 per cent of the relevant base as experience has shown them. “Hence, these statistics guide us for this particular service and its growth potential,” he added.
For promoting the content, Tata Sky will use every available medium to talk to consumers.
Some of the international offerings include God of Love, Bear Story, Atlantic, Henry, Borrowed Time, Curfew, Blood Money, A Sense of History, Neighbours, Walls, Blue Season, Midnight of My Life and Picture Paris. Also featured will be the likes of Chutney, Ahalya, Shunyata, Aamad, Kheer, Arre Baba, Urmi’s Cat, Naughty Amelia Jane, all critically acclaimed films.
Shorts International is headquartered in London and is represented in the US by Shorts Entertainment Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary located in Los Angeles. The company is led by CEO Carter Pilcher, and is owned by Shorts Entertainment Holdings with AMC Networks as a significant minority shareholder.
DTH
DD Free Dish e-auction revenue dips to Rs 642 crore as slot sales fall
Revenue dips as revised norms reshape bidding in 94th round
NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati’s DD Free Dish has closed its 8th annual, and 94th overall, e-auction for MPEG-2 slots with total collections of Rs 642 crore for the period April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027.
That is lower than last year’s Rs 780 crore haul, with 55 slots sold compared with 61 in FY25–26. The softer topline reflects both a slimmer inventory and a recalibrated auction framework.
This was the first auction conducted after amendments to the e-auction methodology, including tighter eligibility norms and a revised reserve price structure for MPEG-2 slots. The stated aim was greater transparency and more serious participation. The immediate outcome appears to be more measured bidding in certain categories.
Day one set the tone. Eight slots were sold, six in the premium Bucket A+ and two in Bucket A. The strong early action in A+, which typically houses Hindi GECs and movie channels, reaffirmed the enduring appeal of mass Hindi programming on the platform.
Among the broadcasters securing slots in the initial rounds were Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Sony Pictures Networks India, Viacom18’s Colors network, Sun Network and Shemaroo Entertainment. Their continued presence signals that, despite the pull of digital platforms, Free Dish remains a strategic must have for legacy networks chasing scale in price sensitive markets.
The final bouquet of 55 channels leans heavily towards Hindi news, movies, devotional fare, Bhojpuri and regional programming.
In Hindi news, familiar heavyweights such as Aaj Tak, ABP News, India TV, News18 India, Republic Bharat and Zee News made the cut. Entertainment and movie offerings include Colors Rishtey, Star Utsav, Dangal TV, Sony Pal, Shemaroo TV, Goldmines, B4U Movies and Zee Biskope. Devotional viewers will find Aastha, Sanskar and Sadhna Gold among the selected channels.
Regional representation includes Sun Marathi, Fakt Marathi, PTC Punjabi and GTC Punjabi.
Equally telling were the absences. Broadcasters such as Big Magic, Filamchi Bhojpuri, India News, Bharat Express, Movieplex Maithili, TV9 Marathi, Shemaroo Marathibana, Zee Chitra Mandir and Satsang did not participate. The pullback is particularly visible across Marathi, Bhojpuri, Maithili and spiritual programming. Industry observers point to the revised reserve prices, tighter eligibility norms and a reassessment of commercial viability as possible factors.
DD Free Dish continues to beam into over 40 million homes, largely in rural and semi urban India. For advertisers and broadcasters alike, it offers efficient access to Bharat markets where pay TV penetration remains uneven and OTT subscriptions are limited.
The moderation in revenue this year may be read as a pause rather than a retreat. Fewer slots, a reworked auction playbook and evolving broadcaster strategies have clearly shaped outcomes. Yet premium Hindi entertainment retains its pull, and the platform’s mass reach remains hard to ignore.
As the FY26–27 line-up settles in, the mix of winners and walkaways will define the private satellite channel landscape on DD Free Dish for the year ahead.
