MIB order in Zee Media case to create level playing field for smaller news broadcaster

The order essentially stopped these channels from being available on DD FreeDish, the free-to-air service by public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, without paying the carriage or slot fee.

The matter dates to October 2019, when the ministry had permitted Zee Media to uplink 10 channels – Zee Hindustan, Zee Rajasthan, Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal, Zee Bihar Jharkhand, Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand, Zee Salam, Zee 24 Kalak, Zee 24 Taas and Zee Odisha (now Zee Delhi NCR Haryana) – simultaneously in Ku Band on GSAT -15 satellite from the teleport of Dish TV India.

However, it was later observed that as transponders of both DD Free Dish and Dish TV were co-located on the same satellite, these channels were getting available on DD Free Dish, without the broadcaster paying any slot fee to the pubcaster.

Rival news broadcasters complained to the ministry, TRAI, as well as ratings agency BARC India multiple times as this free availability on DD Free Dish gave Zee media an “unfair advantage”.

As per industry estimates, DD Free Dish has more than 40 million subscribers, which is over a quarter of the total TV households in the country.

Availability on DD Free Dish gives a major boost to any channel’s reach. Placement of channels on the DTH service is a major source of revenue for the public broadcaster, which had last auctioned off the slots for around Rs 8.95 crore per channel a year for Hindi and about Rs 6.20 crore per channel for regional languages.

Zee Media, which runs a clutch of national and regional news channels, had paid for only one slot and ran Zee news officially on the Free Dish platform, according to rival networks.

Finally, after multiple show cause notices and representations, MIB, in its order dated September 23, revoked the permission, which smaller news broadcasters are considering as a major win.

“The viewership share of some of Zee Media channels in their respective market was going up to 60-70% due to the channels’ availability of Free Dish. This was without paying the slot fee. Now, we all will have a level playing field and can hope for an increase in the market share,” said the head of a Madhya Pradesh based news channel.