DTH
Doordarshan Freedish to hold 20th online e-auction with Rs 3.7 crore reserve price
NEW DELHI: Two months after the last e-auction, Doordarshan will be holding the 20th e-auction for Freedish on 11 February in an attempt to touch the target of 112 television channels in the next few months.
Doordarshan has set a reserve price of Rs 3.7 crore per slot for the online e-auction; though Indiantelevision.com has learnt that the bid amount went up to Rs 4.2 crore in the 17th e-auction held on 12 November. This came shortly after the 16th e-auction on 28 October.
DD sources said while the 19th auction was to fill four slots, it had been decided not to disclose the number of slots in advance this time in order to prevent bidders forming consortia to bid or resort to other malpractices. (It is however learnt that the e-auction is to fill five to seven slots.)
Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar had said recently that the future of Doordarshan was in Freedish and digitization. He had added that this may mean that some channels would have to be attracted to Freedish by means other than e-auction.
DD sources also said that while Freedish may be encrypted to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, it would remain free-to-air.
The e-auction will be conducted by Synise Technologies Ltd., Pune on behalf of Prasar Bharati.
The reserve price in the 15th e-auction was Rs 3 crore and was raised to Rs 3.7 crore in the 16th auction.
Prior to the 16th auction, the total number of channels on Freedish was 58.
Meanwhile, a Doordarshan official declined to give the number of successful bids in recent auctions as engineers of the pubcaster had to test these channels before verifying any numbers.
The eligibility terms and conditions including other relevant details for this e-auction are displayed on DD website: www.ddindia.gov.in.
However, the participation amount (EMD) in the e-auction is Rs.1.5 crore, which will be deposited in advance on or before noon on 11 February along with a processing fee of Rs 10,000 (Non-refundable) in favour of PB (BCI) Doordarshan Commercial Service, New Delhi.
Applicants have also been asked manadatorily to deposit a Demand Draft of Rs 5,500 registration amount favouring Synise Technologies Ltd., payable at Pune at the time of submission of the application. The time for every slot e-auction will be of fifteen minutes duration.
The applicants must provide details of the uplink/downlink permission documents received from the concerned Ministries with the applications to ensure they are not rejected.
The demand drafts of unsuccessful bidders will be returned immediately or within a week after the e-auction process is completed.
DTH Operator
JC Flowers withdraws NCLT plea against Dish TV over EGM demand
Move eases pressure on DTH firm as long-running shareholder dispute cools
MUMBAI: In a breather for Dish TV India, JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction has withdrawn its petition before the National Company Law Tribunal seeking directions to convene an extraordinary general meeting.
The development was disclosed by Dish TV in a regulatory filing, confirming that the petitioner chose to withdraw the case during a hearing at the Mumbai bench of the tribunal. A detailed order from the bench is still awaited.
The petition, originally filed under Sections 98 to 100 of the Companies Act, 2013, sought to push for an extraordinary general meeting to address governance issues at the company. The case had its roots in a prolonged shareholder tussle dating back to 2021, when Yes Bank, then the largest shareholder, was at odds with the promoter group led by Subhash Chandra over board reconstitution.
JC Flowers had stepped into the picture as an assignee of Yes Bank’s stressed assets, effectively continuing the legal push initiated earlier. The withdrawal now signals a pause, if not a closure, to that chapter of dispute.
While the reasons behind the withdrawal have not been formally detailed, the move reduces immediate legal pressure on Dish TV, which has been navigating both operational and regulatory challenges in recent years.
For now, the focus shifts back to the company’s business fundamentals, even as the legal dust settles, at least temporarily, on one of its more closely watched shareholder battles.
