DTH
Dish TV to unveil new promo scheme
MUMBAI: Now you can actually get a DTH service and also get paid to flaunt it. Dish TV is all set to unveil a promotional scheme on these lines with an eye on significantly increasing the pace of ramp up of its subscriber base.
With the festive season around the corner, Dish TV, 20 per cent owned by Zee Telefilms, will offer new customers its services for Rs 3,990 and a gift voucher worth Rs 4,000 as an additional sweetener.
This new scheme, which becomes effective from 3 October, follows the marketing initiative launched a few months ago called ‘har chaat per dish’ (a dish on every rooftop) wherein Dish TV had dropped its service charges by 50 per cent to Rs 3,990 inclusive of one year subscription.
The company’s new offering will run for 45 days till 15 November, Sunil Khanna, CEO of New Era Entertainment Network Limited (NEENL), which manages Dish TV, said.
Under this scheme, new customers can redeem the gift vouchers at 46 select holiday destinations in India or choose amongst four foreign destinations that include Singapore and Bangkok.
Under the scheme, a two-night and three-day stay at any hotel with which Dish TV has a tie-up is what is on offer.
Khanna said the company will conduct lucky draws for Diwali in early November for the first prize (an Elantra car), second prize (10 Santro cars), third prize (100 Honda motorbikes) and the fourth prize (500 Samsung mobile phones).
Khanna adds, “We are looking at targeting 300,000 subscribers during this period.” At present, Dish TV has a subscriber base of 450,000 and aims to touch the one million mark by the end of this financial year ending 31 March 2006.
Additionally, Dish TV is planning to unveil value added services like movies on demand and personal video recorder (PVR) between October and November. The movie on demand service will come at a price of Rs 40 per film.
The PVR hardware, which would cost Rs 16,000, will enable time-shifted viewing through a separate set-top box enabling subscribers to watch what they want, when they want.
Dish TV will be marketing the scheme employing various media like press, television and outdoor.
Apart from Dish TV, the other DTH service in the country, which is subscription free and run by pubcaster Doordarshan, is branded DD Direct Plus.
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.
