News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati sells MPEG-2 slot to 53 broadcasters
MUMBAI: Prasar Bharati has successfully sold Free Dish’s MPEG-2 slots for the period from 01.04.2020 to 31.03.2021 through 44th online e-auction process to 53 broadcasters. The second annual e-Auction of MPEG-2 slots (44th e-auction) of DD Free Dish Platform was completed on 28 Feb 2020.
Applications were received for e-auction under different Buckets/Genre. Subsequently, 53 channels were successfully allocated slots on various buckets on DD Free Dish slots. Subject to completion of all formalities, the channels which have successfully bid for slots will come on air on DD Free Dish Platform from 1 April 2020.
Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati says: “A key highlight of the e-auction was robust participation of channels across genres that saw several new channels making a debut enhancing the content diversity on DD Free Dish as a platform.”
He further opined: “The increased competitiveness in the e-auction process is reflected in the substantial increase in bids over base prices across genres. DD Free Dish has emerged as a key enabler of competitiveness in the broadcast sector with new upstart channels challenging incumbents. Most significantly the nearly 50% growth in potential annual revenue from DD FreeDish is a key leading indicator on likely economic turnaround during FY 2020-2021.”
Four slots were sold under bucket A+ with the reserve price of Rs 15 crore: Abzy Cool, Big Magic, Dangal, and Fun TV. The average slot price of the bucket was Rs 15.6 crore and the highest bid was Rs 15.16 crore. The A bucket was reserved for Rs 12 crore which was sold to 12 channels. The average bid price for the bucket was Rs 15.16 crore and highest bid price was Rs 15.2 crore. Under A bucket, ABZY Dhakad, ABZY Movies, B4U Kadak, B4U Movies, Blue, Cinema TV India, Enterr10, Maha Movie, Manoranjan TV, Movie Plus, Satya, and Surya Cinema reserved their place.
Bucket B included All Music (Hindi) Channels, Sports (Hindi) Channels, GEC (Bhojpuri), Movies (Bhojpuri) and Teleshopping (Hindi) channels for the reserved price of Rs 10 crore. The pubcaster sold this slot to 16 channels- BDM GEC (Bhojpuri), Bhojpuri Cinema Movie (Bhojpuri), Big Ganga GEC (Bhojpuri), B4U Bhojpuri Movie (Bhojpuri), B4U Music Music (Hindi), Dabang Movie (Bhojpuri), Filamchi Movie (Bhojpuri), Manoranjan Grand Movie (Bhojpuri), Mastii Music (Hindi), MTV Beats Music (Hindi), Showbox Music (Hindi), Surya Bhojpuri Movie (Bhojpuri), Zee Biskope Movie (Bhojpuri), Zing Music (Hindi), 9X Jalwa Music (Hindi), and 9XM Music (Hindi). The average slot price was Rs 11.55 crore and the highest bid price was 12.25 crore.
News & Current Affairs (Hindi) Channels, News & Current Affairs (English) and News & Current Affairs (Punjabi) Channels were included in Bucket C with the reserved price Rs 7 core. The pubcaster sold this slot to 13 channels: Aaj Tak, Aaj Tak Tez, ABP News, India News, India TV, NDTV, News Nation, News 24 Think First, News 18 India, Republic TV Bharat, TV9 Bharatvarsh, Zee Hindustan, and Zee News. The average price of Bucket C was Rs 10.85 crore and the highest bid was Rs 12.25 crore.
All other remaining genre (language) channels and teleshopping (regional) channels were included in Bucket D with a reserved price of Rs 6 crore. Prasar Bharati sold this slot to five channels: Fakt Marathi, Manoranjan Movies, Maha Punjabi, Shemaroo Marathibana, and Zee Punjabi. The average bid price of the bucket was Rs 6.17 crore and the highest bid price was Rs 6.25 crore.
The Bucket R1 consisted of spiritual channels including channels promoting yoga, Ayurveda, Health & Wellness (Ayush) based on traditional methods, reserved for Rs 3 crore. The pubcaster sold this slot to three channels: C7, Lord Budha, and Sadhana Bhakt. The average bid price for Bucket R1 was Rs 6.97 crore and the highest bid price was Rs 7.15 crore.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
