DTH
Big B jingalalas on Tata Sky
MUMBAI: After a successful run of 10 years in India, Tata Sky has rolled out its latest Family Jingalala campaign with its brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. Rolling out on 24 September, the campaign features Big B in seven unique avatars. Conceptualized by Ogilvy and Mather and directed by Shoojit Sircar, the campaign intends to highlight Tata Sky’s two key elements — quality content and entertainment for all.
The DTH player has also unveiled its new brand logo as it has tries to reach out to more subscribers outside metros.
Produced by Rising Sun with Sukesh Kumar Nayak as the executive creative director, the campaign is the story of a regular family where each member has vastly different entertainment and content needs. Bachchan explains how these can be met through Tata Sky, highlighting the expansive breadth of the brand’s offerings and its significance in a family’s everyday life.
The campaign sees Bachchan playing the role of a showman in an unconventional bohemian look, (himself) singing the story of a regular family. He reveals how all their needs can be met by subscribing to Tata Sky.
With 85 per cent viewing from outside big towns and 90 per cent consuming general entertainment, the DTH player plans to attract both, urban and rural, markets with this campaign. “We will continue to take our business a notch higher and will continue to focus on the rural markets. Now is the right time for us. With the campaign, we are targeting cable, FTA as well as first time TV users.
“Amitabh Bachchan is our common thread. He has a mass appeal from anyone in the metro to a home which does not have a TV or has not become a subscriber yet. There could have been nobody better than Bachchan to bring this vision to life,” said Tata Sky chief communications officer Malay Dikshit.
Each puppet was worked upon extensively by a specialized team from the Czech Republic to make him or her look like Bachchan.
“There is no other entertainer like Bachchan. And when there are seven of them in never-seen-before roles, telling you a very entertaining story, then it is very tough to miss the point that nothing entertains better than Tata Sky,” added Nayak.
“People want good entertainment in their house. TV forms the most important source of entertainment for the entire family. But, they have got used to the stale and inferior entertainment on offer just because it is cheap or free. The idea is to show what a wide world of entertainment and good quality service awaits them if they subscribe to Tata Sky. O&M presented us with a heart-warming story of a family of seven puppets, each in love with their TV shows,” added Dikshit.
The campaign will also be dubbed in five languages — Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil — by 4 October. It will be
extensively promoted on FTA channels followed by pay-TV channels. The TV campaign will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign including sketches on bus-backs, wall paintings, vernacular print, OOH and cinema halls
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.
