Question : Customers of Free of Cost DTH

(a) whether the number of customers of free of cost DTH service of Doordarshan is quite less as compared to the customers availing services in a private manner by paying charges;
(b) if so, the reasons for the people not giving priority to using free of cost DTH service of Doordarshan;
(c) the details of efforts made by the Government to attract the customers for using free of cost DTH service of Doordarshan; and
(d) whether any norms have been fixed for this purpose, if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE; MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING; AND MINISTER OF HEAVY INDUSTRIES AND PUBLIC ENTERPRISES (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)
(a) & (b): Prasar Bharati has informed that as per KPMG- India’s Media and Entertainment report 2019 and performance indicator of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for the period April-June, 2019, Doordarshan’s Direct-to-Home (DTH) service known as “DD FreeDish has largest customer base. “DD FreeDish” is free service to the customer unlike private DTH service.
As per these reports, approx 33 million households have access to DD Free Dish whereas four private DTH operators (Tata Sky, Dish TV, Airtel, & Sun) combined together have 67 million households in the country.
(c) & (d): Prasar Bharati has further informed that new Policy for DD FreeDish had been notified by Prasar Bharati on 15 January 2019, for making DD FreeDish bouquet rich with emphasis on representation of all genres channels including regional channels, and also of the channels of foreign public service broadcasters. Based on this new policy, private channels to be carried on DD FreeDish are selected through a transparent e-auction process.
DD authorized Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) are being promoted to attract more households.
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