DTH
GST Bill, DTH and broadcasting
MUMBAI: When the The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 was passed in the Rajya Sabha late Wednesday night, it heralded the rollout of the goods and service tax era in India. In the making for nearly 16 years it is estimated to inject an additional one to two points in growth to the world’s fastest growing economy.
GST, as envisaged by the government, is one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India one unified common market. It will subsume central excise duty, additional excise duty, service tax, additional customs duty commonly known as countervailing duty, and special additional duty of customs at the Central level. GST will also subsume state value added tax/sales tax, entertainment tax, central sales tax, octroi and entry tax, and purchase tax at the state level.
Last year when finance minister Arun Jaitley had tabled the Bill then for debate, indiantelevision.com had spoken to industry stalwarts. Videocon D2H CEO Anil Khera had at that stage opined: “GST is a welcome move. It will help the DTH sector to prosper. DTH is the biggest victim of multiple taxation policy and GST will simplify that. The industry needs a uniform taxation system and the sooner it comes the better it is.”
Speaking to CNBC TV18 on 2 August Dish TV chairman and managing director Jawahar Goel had said that the passage of the GST amendments would benefit his company to the tune of three to four per cent initially and this would likely improve to four to five per cent going forward.
“Currently our outgo on indirect taxes is roughly around 23 percent and then for tax administration also, our expenditure is almost 1-1.5 percent, for managing our logistics in each of the states. The savings should go directly to our bottomline,” he had shared with the business news channel.
Broadcasters would likely be impacted too as the indirect taxes that they pay currently are around 14-15 per cent. Observers expected the outgo for them could rise to about 18-20 per cent the introduction of GST.
(Because this is a developing story, more facts may emerge as we go along. Hence it will be updated with new viewpoints then.)
DTH
DD Free Dish e-auction heats up with 26 MPEG-2 slots sold in two days
Hindi movies, GEC and news dominate; Star Utsav Movies tops Day 2 at Rs 213.45 crore
MUMBAI- The bidding war on DD Free Dish is turning into a blockbuster and the slots are selling faster than popcorn at interval. Prasar Bharati’s 8th annual MPEG-2 e-auction delivered another strong day on Tuesday, with 18 more channels securing spots across movies, regional music and news buckets, taking the two-day total to 26.
Day 2 belonged to the movies and news categories. In Bucket A (Hindi Movies), Star Utsav Movies led the pack at Rs 213.45 crore, pipped only narrowly by Zee Action at Rs 213.4 crore. Goldmines landed at Rs 13.35 crore and Zee Anmol at Rs 13.3 crore, showing razor-thin price bands and fierce competition. Bucket B saw Zee Bioscope top at Rs 10.6 crore, Bhojpuri Cinema Rs 10.5 crore, B4U Bhojpuri Rs 10.2 crore, while Showbox, Unique TV and B4U Music each closed at Rs 10.25 crore.
News channels in Bucket C stayed tightly bunched: NDTV, Aaj Bharat, Zee News and India TV all secured slots at Rs 8.6 crore, with News Nation and ABP News slightly higher at Rs 8.65 crore. Bucket D rounded out with Russia Today at Rs 9.75 crore and GTC Punjabi at Rs 7.92 crore.
Day 1 had already set a premium tone, with eight slots snapped up – six in Bucket A+ (Hindi/Urdu GEC, starting reserve Rs 15 crore) and two in Bucket A (Hindi/Urdu Movies, starting Rs 12 crore). Sony PAL topped Day 1 winners at Rs 16.55 crore, Star Utsav Rs 16.25 crore, Shemaroo TV Rs 16.35 crore, Zee Anmol, Colors Rishtey and Sun Neo at Rs 16.40 crore each. Sony WAH took a Bucket A slot at Rs 13.95 crore and Zee Anmol Cinema at Rs 13.45 crore.
The surge reflects broadcasters’ hunger for DD Free Dish’s estimated 43–45 million rural and semi-urban households, where Hindi GEC and movies remain advertising goldmines.
The auction runs under the revised E-auction Methodology 2025 (amended 9 January 2026), with escalating reserves – Round 2 Bucket A+ at Rs 16 crore, Round 3 Bucket A at Rs 13 crore – and stricter eligibility to weed out speculative bids. Channels must be operational, available in the relevant language, and already carried on at least one private DTH, DD Free Dish or registered MSO.
With premium genres flying off the shelf, the coming rounds will test how deep pockets really are as reserves climb and tactical down-bidding gets harder. In India’s largest free-to-air universe, these auctions aren’t just about slots – they’re about who gets to stay on the screen that reaches deepest into the heartland.
