300 hours eligibility criteria for e-auction of slots on DD National

Doordarshan, which recently decided to invite eligible producers to create and market fresh content on the channel for a fixed tenure extending up to three years by buying slots through e-auction, today said the offer was open for production houses which have produced at least 300 hours of Hindi general entertainment programming in the last two years. Moreover, the production houses should have a turnover of minimum Rs 5 crores per annum in regard to TV and film production in the last three financial years. Successful bidders will produce fresh programmes in various genres of general entertainment programme for Doordarshan will be required to adhere to the programming/broadcasting codes of Prasar Bharati. Request for Proposal (RFP) of the Slot Sale Policy is available and can be downloaded from the website: www.ddindia.gov.in. The policy encourages private entrepreneurs to produce cutting edge general entertainment programming with a commitment for providing wholesome family enjoyment. The technical and financial criteria for the new policy will be notified separately. The sale of slots to be auctioned will be through e-auction mode. The roll out of the Slot Sale Policy will commence with DD’s flagship channel ‘DD National’ on its prime time slots will then be progressively extended to other slots and channels.

The base price for DD National Prime Time is being kept reasonable keeping in view the content environment and market economics to attract bidders. In the draft notification for sale of slots on prime time of DD National (to be separately notified), the minimum floor price for DD National Prime Time is proposed to be Rs two lakhs for each 30 minute time slot between 7 and 11 PM (excluding Feature Film Slots). The slot price increase is to be based on half yearly reviews through a transparent mechanism linked to the ratings achieved in the slot. The slots available for bidding would be for a sequence of slots for daily strips on weekdays/weekends. More Free Commercial Time (FCT) will be given to the Bidder or slot holder and the FCT will be enhanced from the existing 2.5 minutes to 4.0 minutes for every 30 minute slot. Successful bidders would be free to procure advertisements from all clients within their entitlement of FCT with the exception of Government and PSU (Public Sector Undertaking) clients. 

Bids may be invited for any/various combinations of/all slots as detailed below:

i) For a single standalone slot

ii) For longer time durations comprising of more than one slot for catering to the needs of telecasting special events, feature films etc.

iii) For a single slot on weekly basis

iv) For a sequence of slots in the same time band running over certain number of days in a week (e.g. Monday-Thursday; Monday-Friday; Saturday-Sunday, etc.)

The decision regarding inviting bids in respect of slots will be at the sole discretion of Doordarshan after taking into account its programme requirements for any channel or time band. The website www.ddindia.gov.in gives detailed information for applicants.