DTH
Find out what’s trending on TV with Tata Sky’s redesigned Home Screen
NEW DELHI: Keeping the customer at the centre of all tech innovations, Tata Sky, India’s leading content distribution and Pay TV platform has introduced a first of its kind feature on its set-top boxes – Trending on TV. This feature enhances the TV viewing experience, offering subscribers a one-stop solution to easily discover trending content under Top Movies and Live Sports categories by simply pressing the yellow button on the Tata Sky remote control. This feature has been integrated across all HD & SD set-top boxes, making it thereby a first of its kind proposition for non-web connected set top boxes in India.
‘Top Movies’, subscribers can choose movie titles from 8 languages including English, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali that are filtered basis a rating of 5.5 and above. This not only allows the subscribers to access the best films across the list of available channels but also saves channel-surfing time. Similarly, the feature acts as a guide to live sporting events whenever they air. The new Home App also includes Channel Info and Channel Search options, offering the ease of discovering and subscribing to new channels categorised by channel name, channel number, genre and languages at the simple touch of a button.
Talking about the feature, a Tata Sky Spokesperson said, “At Tata Sky it has always been our endeavour to provide our subscribers with the widest variety of content delivered via best in class technology. The new Home App is another innovation unique to Tata Sky’s set-top boxes, providing subscribers with a readymade content guide thereby making it convenient to choose from trending movies and sporting events by simply pressing the yellow button on the remote control.”
The new features offer subscribers an improved TV watching experience and a hassle-free option of switching to their favourite channels. It comes with a one-stop self-care solution to independently address daily account related requirements like adding channels that are carrying trending content to the bouquet, changing RMN, among others. The steps to easily use the new features are being communicated to subscribers through brand films and digital promotions.
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.
