'Slot sale' to begin with DD national channel

With the Prasar Bharati board approving a new 'slot sale' policy under which slots would be e-auctioned to producers, Doordarshan today said that after roll it out in DD National prime time, the scheme would extended to other time bands and channels.
In a statement released here, the broadcaster gave details of the slot sale policy as per which Producers will be able sell 4 minutes of airtime in a 30 minute slot.
It added eligible entities will be invited to create and market fresh content on the channel for a fixed tenure extending up to 3 years.
The Base price for DD National Prime Time is designed, keeping in view the content environment and market economics, to attract bidders. Slot price increase is to be based on half yearly reviews through a transparent mechanism linked to the ratings achieved in the slot, the statement added.

Yesterday, the Prasar Bharati board had decided to auction prime time slots, between 7-11 pm, on its national channel as per a new policy under which the producers will provide content in return for a share in the advertising revenue.
The Board had also decided that programmes approved earlier under the Self-Financed Commission (SFC) scheme, under which the Doordarshan acquires programmes and then recovers cost through ad revenue, will also be utilised by the channel though their time slots may have to be shifted.
However, it is learnt that not all producers under the SFC scheme may find moving their programmes from prime time slots to mid prime time slots as a satisfactory move.

"The moving of a prime time slot programme to a mid prime time slot may mean significant reduction in revenue to the producer. Moreover there are other SFC producers who are upset as their proposals had been evaluated but not evaluated by the broadcaster," a producer said.