DTH
Tata Sky selects Genesys to revolutionise home entertainment
MUMBAI: Direct-to-Home (DTH) provider Tata Sky, has associated with Genesys, to deploy customer experience platform to enhance service delivery to its subscribers.
The association is an endeavour to empower Tata Sky’s workforce to service customers seamlessly across multiple touch points. The platform provides greater efficiencies in the company’s contact center operations and also provides subscribers with new, personalised self-service applications to provide customers with a complete user friendly experience, said the press release.
Excited with the collaboration, Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal said, “Tata Sky is pleased to partner with Genesys in our quest to bring superior quality television entertainment to its viewers. The system is clearly the best in class and offers cost savings, operational efficiencies and visibility into contact center operations.”
“Tata Sky strives to bring not only superior quality television entertainment to its viewers, but also to offer the best customer service possible. We have built an extensive customer service network across the country with 24-hour call centers manned by multi-lingual highly competent customer service associates,” he added.
The multi-channel capabilities of the Genesys solution integrates with Siebel, and provides Tata Sky customer service agents with a more productive and efficient work environment that takes advantage of ‘customer-priority’ based agent routing technology.
“We are pleased that Tata Sky has implemented Genesys to enhance the subscriber experience,” said Genesys APAC managing director Bruce Eidsvik. “Our best in class, multi-channel software is an ideal complement to Tata Sky’s vision of revolutionizing home entertainment in India and empowering every television viewer,” he added.
Additionally, the company also provides a personalised, voice self-service application that reduces the time that customers spend on unwanted menu options and helps transform the overall customer experience.
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.
