DTH
ShortsTV best of india short film festival 2019 open for entries
MUMBAI: ShortsTV, the world’s leading short movie TV service, available in India on Tata Sky, is looking for great short movies made by Indian filmmakers to enter its 2019 Best of India Short Film Festival.
After a successful first edition last year, the competition is returning with the goal of further raising artistic awareness of Indian filmmakers to the Hollywood film community and opening doors for possible television deals and other opportunities, including qualification for Academy Award consideration.
ShortsTV will award prizes totaling $2,500 to the top five selected short films. The five top shorts will also receive a screening in Los Angeles, California for seven days and thereby gain Academy Award qualification status. Every film entered will be considered for a television broadcast deal on ShortsTV (although filmmakers do not have to accept this).
Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive of ShortsTV said, “At present, no Indian film festival is accredited by the Academy, making it difficult for Indian filmmakers to get their films considered for Oscar® nominations. To be considered for an Oscar®, a film either needs to win an award at an Academy accredited film festival or be screened at a cinema in Los Angeles for at least seven days, which can be prohibitively expensive for most short filmmakers. ShortsTV believes more Indian filmmakers deserve the opportunity to become Oscar® nominated and the ShortsTV Best of India Short Film Festival is one initiative we are implementing to make that happen.”
Last year, the top prize went to Mumbai based filmmaker Chintan Sarda and his short film ‘Shunyata’, featuring Jackie Shroff in the leading role.
To be eligible for the competition, entries need to be “narrative” live action short films with a total running time of 40 minutes or less where either the writer, director or producer is from India and the film’s final form is in High Definition (HD) or DCP.
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.
