DTH
Airtel Digital TV adds 1.2 mn subscribers in FY20
KOLKATA: While Mukesh Ambani’s Jio has made quite a buzz for its innovation and acquisitions to expand its Jio Fiber business, Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel is scaling up its DTH and broadband business. Airtel Digital TV added 1.2 million subscribers in FY 20 thanks to its premium HD content.
The DTH service has 16.6 million subscribers as of 31 March 2020 compared to 15.4 million subscribers in FY 19. Although the subscriber base went up, the revenue fell by 29 per cent. It has reported Rs 29,238 million for the year as compared to Rs 41,001 million in the previous year (an increase of 16 per cent on an underlying basis).
The company introduced Airtel Xstream services in FY 20 for its broadband and DTH customers with a 360 Degree campaign ‘Don’t just watch TV on your TV.' Moreover, its converged proposition of integrated home offering has been launched in ten cities as on 31 March 2020. Under the new offering, customers can opt for multiple services from Airtel i.e., postpaid, broadband and DTH under one bill.
“With an aim to widen our DTH market, we adopted an inclusive approach to empower our Rural Sales Fraternity, wherein freelancer technicians (electricians) and other workers were encouraged to sell and install new DTH connections at customer premises. In FY 2019-20, there were 4,099 active DOST executives across the country, engaged and empowered to drive new DTH activations,” it said in its annual report.
Airtel currently provides fixed-line telephone and broadband services for homes in 111 cities across India. The Homes business had 2.4 million customers as on 31 March 2020 up by 6.3 per cent as compared to 2.3 million at the end of the previous year. Revenues from this segment stood at Rs 22,451 million for the year as compared to Rs 22,391 million in the previous year, an increase of 0.3 per cent.
Follow Tellychakkar for the consumer facing news & entertainment
DTH
Free Dish serves fresh slots as Prasar Bharati rings in e Auction 97
MPEG 4 slots for 2026–27 open with bids from March 16 and applications due March 9.
MUMBAI- When the Free Dish menu changes, broadcasters sharpen their forks. Prasar Bharati has formally opened applications for vacant MPEG-4 slots on its DD Free Dish direct to home platform, setting the stage for the 97th e-auction, scheduled to begin on March 16, 2026. The allotment will cover the broadcast period from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027, continuing the public broadcaster’s annual auction cycle.
The notice, issued on February 9, 2026, lays out a familiar but finely sliced structure, with channels grouped into genre and language based “buckets”, each carrying its own reserve price and bidding dynamics. The aim is simple: widen content choice on DD Free Dish while keeping the playing field regulated and competitive.
At the premium end of the table, HD channels (Bucket H) will open with a reserve price of Rs 80 lakh, with bid increments of Rs 1 lakh.
Regional language channels are split across multiple rounds. Bucket R1, covering South Indian languages, and Bucket R2, which includes Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali, will both start at Rs 5 lakh in round one, moving up to Rs 15 lakh in the second round.
News and current affairs channels under Bucket G1 will begin at Rs 30 lakh, escalating to Rs 50 lakh in the next round, while the General Open round (GO) meant to mop up unfilled slots across categories carries a reserve price of Rs 70 lakh.
Eligibility remains tightly controlled. Participation is limited to satellite television channels licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, with international public broadcasters holding valid MIB licences also allowed to bid. Prasar Bharati has also reiterated strict content compliance norms, making genre and language declarations more than just paperwork.
To qualify as “predominant”, at least 75 percent of non advertising content must align with the declared genre and language. In overall terms, this means such content cannot fall below 60 percent of a channel’s total monthly telecast. Complaints will trigger a review by a designated committee, and persistent violations could result in the channel being taken off the platform.
Applications must be submitted online via the Prasar Bharati portal by 9 March, 2026, at 15:00 hours. Broadcasters will need to pay a non refundable processing fee of Rs 25,000 and a participation fee of Rs 3 lakh, along with submitting mandatory documents such as MIB permissions, channel logos and proof of carriage on other DTH or MSO platforms.
Successful bidders will be required to stick to a strict payment calendar. Delays will attract interest at 14.5 percent per annum, and repeated defaults could lead to forfeiture of the participation fee and removal from DD Free Dish.
As India’s only free to air DTH platform with massive reach, DD Free Dish continues to be a crucial gateway, especially in regional markets. With e-Auction 97, Prasar Bharati is once again reshuffling the platter and the industry is watching closely to see who gets served next.
