Mumbai: The public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has invited applications for vacant MPEG-4 slots on the DD Free Dish DTH platform on a pro-rata basis for the period 24 August 2022 to 31 March 2023. The 62nd e-auction process will be tentatively held on 17 August and the last day to submit applications is 16 August.

"The bidding in the e-auction will be open to all genre (language)channels at a starting reserve price of Rs 1.01 crore," said the public broadcaster in a notice on 8 August.

Only satellite channels licensed by the ministry of information and broadcasting ( MIB) will be allowed to participate in the e-auction. The companies holding valid permission from the MIB can apply for participation in e-auction for the allocation of the DD Free Dish slot. International public broadcasters licensed by MIB can also participate in the e-auction.

According to the circular, successful bidders will be required to make the payments in two monthly installments and as per the policy guidelines for the allotment of DD Free Dish slots. The channels participating in e-auction must pay a mandatory fee of Rs 25, 000 and a participation fee of Rs 10 lakh that should be paid via demand draft. Online training will be provided to all participants before the commencement of the actual e-auction.

The unsuccessful bidders will be refunded with a participation fee within three weeks after the declaration of the e-auction result.

DD Freedish is the free-to-air (FTA) direct to home (DTH) platform, which reaches more than 40 million households in the country. The reach of MPEG-4 is estimated between 2 to 3 million.