Almost every popular entertainment channel like Star Bharat, Sony Pal, Zee Anmol got removed from DD Free Dish since 1st March 2019. If you are wondering why it happened and is there any way to get back these channels then please read this blog.
Why are the channels removed?
As DD Free Dish do not charge any fee from its subscribers, it has to charge channel broadcasters. Every private channel needs to buy a slot to make it available on DD Free Dish. An auction is held on by Prasar Bharati to sell slots on DD Free Dish. The latest pricing of slots is given below.
38th e-auction of DD Free Dish started on 11th February and completed on 15th February. Channels like Star Bharat, Zee Anmol, and Sony Pal have not participated in this action so as per process DD Free Dish has removed these channels from it’s platform. New channels who have successfully bided like Republic Bharat and NDTV India are added in DD Free Dish.
Can you get the older channels back?
The Internet especially YouTube is flooded with videos which claim that you can get the older channels back by a software upgrade and other tricks. Unfortunately, there is no way to watch removed channel on DD Free Dish. Do not waste your time watching such videos.
Can you add any channel by paying?
There is no way to add any channel which is not available on DD Free Dish even by paying extra. You can switch to paid DTH operators like Tata Sky, Dish TV to watch any channel of your choice.
Are removed channels may come back?
Auctions are held on a regular interval and there are many slots on DD Free Dish which are unsold. If channels participate in next auction and win a slot then removed channels may come back. There are very little chances that these channels will come back in the near future as not participating in e-auction is a strategic move by the broadcasters which is influenced by the new TRAI rules. 39th e-auction will start from 27th March 2019 for vacant MPEG- 4 slots but the most of DD Free Dish users use MPEG-2 set-top boxes so next auction is useless for them. At this time there is no announcement to sell vacant MPEG-2 slots.