DTH
DishTV strengthens its presence in Kerala Market
KOLKATA: Dish TV India Limited, India’s leading DTH Company is set to add cheer to the festive season with a slew of attractive offers and packages as it joins the Onam celebrations in Kerala. Keeping in line with its commitment to provide best in class entertainment choices to its new and existing customer, DishTV has introduced new channels, packs, and acquisition offers along with exciting recharge offers at attractive prices to its customers.
Catering to the need of customers, the new packages offered by DishTV have been devised keeping in mind the diverse choice of content across various segments. As part of the offer, two new special packs have been launched, basis the language preferred by the customers. The new recharge packs include Joy Malayalam Tamil HD; comprising all popular Malayalam channels with Popular Tamil channels and also include three discovery channels; Animal Planet HD, Discovery HD and TLC HD and Premiere Jumbo HD; comprising all Malayalam with popular English movies, news, sports, infotainment channels.
Commenting on the festive offers, Marketing, Dish TV and Watcho corporate head-marketing Sukhpreet Singh said, “We would like to thank the people of Kerala for their continuous support throughout the year and Onam is an opportune time for us to show our gratitude. We intend to make this festive season special for everyone by providing many exciting offers and packages for our DishTV customers. We recognize the ever-evolving aspirations of Keralites and are happy to offer services focused on delivering maximum choice and entertainment benefit to our customers. Kerala is an important market for Dish TV India and we are confident that Onam special offers and packages will bring new customers and growth in this market.”
In addition to this, the company has introduced offers based on the need for multi-lingual content consumption for new as well as existing subscribers and has strengthened its content portfolio in Kerala by adding channels like Zee Keralam HD, & Prive HD and many more south region channels. It also added Kite Victers, an educational channel for students, devoted to broadcasting high-quality education programs and infotainment content in Malayalam. To further encourage existing subscribers, special long term schemes have been announced, wherein subscribers can avail one month extra on payment of six months.
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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.
