DD Free Dish DTH service is owned and operated by Public Service Broadcaster Prasar Bharati. It was launched in December, 2004. DD Free Dish is the only Free-to-Air (FTA) Direct-To-Home (DTH) Service where there is no monthly subscription fee from the viewers. It is very affordable for all as it requires only a small one time investment of about Rs. 2000/- for purchasing of Set-to-Box (STB) and small sized Dish Antenna with accessories. The unique free to air model has made DD Free Dish the largest DTH platform.

Notification

DD Free Dish Helpline

Frequently asked questions on DD Free Dish

Q. 1 What is DD Free Dish?

Ans. DD Free Dish is India’s first and one and only Free-to-Air (FTA) Direct-To-Home (DTH) Service from Prasar Bharati.

Q. 2 What is Free-to-Air (FTA) DTH?

Ans. Normally all over the world DTH operators charge activation charges as well as monthly subscription charges depending upon the channels/Bouquet to be viewed by subscriber. DD Free Dish is a unique Free-to-Air (FTA) DTH platform in which the subscriber is not charged any activation and monthly subscription charges.

Q. 3 When was the DD Free Dish service started?

Ans. DD Free Dish is an approved scheme of the Government of India being implemented through Prasar Bharati. The Cabinet approval of the scheme was obtained on 19.11.2003. DD Free Dish service was formally inaugurated by Honourable Prime Minister of India on 16.12.2004.

Q. 4 What is the reach of DD Free Dish?

Ans. DD Free is available throughout the country except in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. It reaches even to those places where Terrestrial or cable TV is not available like border, remote & tribal areas.

A separate 10 channel DTH service in C-Band has been provided by Prasar Bharati exclusively for Andaman & Nicobar Islands, which is also Free- To-Air.

As per 2023 Market estimates more than 4.50 Crore Household watch DD Free Dish

Q. 5 What are the advantages of DD Free Dish over cable connection?

Ans. DD Free Dish ensures excellent Picture Quality for all the channels in the bouquet. There is no intermediary as one gets the signals directly from the broadcasters. There are no recurring charges to be paid by subscribers to view any of the programs. Unlike other private DTH operators, DD Free Dish is free for life time and does not charge any monthly or annual subscription fee from the viewers for complete bouquet including HD Channels of the DD Free Dish channels. To view channels of DD Free Dish platform, you have to buy a DD Free Dish Set Top Box and dish with accessories which can be got from open market .The complete set may be approx Rs. 2000/- depending on the type of Set-Top-Box. The complete DD Free Dish Receive System consists of a Set-Top-Box, small sized Dish Antenna LNBC, RF cable and other accessories.

Q. 6 Will DD Free Dish Signal be available in remote villages, where no TV tower is installed ?

Ans. Yes, the DD Free Dish signal is made available through satellite and doesn’t require any tower or cable for its distribution.

Q.7 What is the composition of DD Free Dish bouquet?

Ans. DD Free Dish bouquet has a rich bouquet of Doordarshan TV channels, Private TV Channels in various Genres including GEC, Movies, Music, Sports, News & Current affairs, Devotional / Spritual / Ayush etc. in diverse Indian Languages and English plus Educational channels and Radio channels of All India Radio.

Q.8 Can DD Free Dish be viewed without disconnecting existing cable connection?

Ans. Most of the TVs have multiple AV or HDMI input mode. Cable connection can be viewed in one AV or HDMI input mode and DTH channels can be viewed in another AV or HDMI input Mode by choosing the AV option from the remote of your TV set. DTH channels can be changed using TV STB remote control.

Q 9. Once the Dish &Set Top Box are installed, will it be possible to receive all channels or I have to pay to see Private TV channels?

Ans. DD Free Dish platform is free and viewers are not required to pay to view any channels of DD Free Dish platform including private TV channels. The channels available in the bouquet can be received once the receive equipment is installed.

Q. 10 If there are more than one TV set in one house; will all TV sets require separate STBs/Dishes to receive DD Free Dish?

Ans. Yes, for each TV, a separate STB will be required.

Q 11. If one shifts his residence or moves to some other city, can he continue to use the same STB and the Dish to receive DD Free Dish?

Ans. Yes, one can carry the equipment anywhere in India and continue to enjoy DD Free Dish after installing the dish at the new location through a local installer.

Q 12.Will the reception be affected by rains/snowfall?

Ans. Though provision exists to take care that the signal remains strong during rains/snowfall, yet heavy rains may result into temporary outage in the DTH signal.

Q 13.Where can the Dish be installed?

Ans. Dish can be installed on the rooftop or on the wall surface facing clear south. Viewers can take help of local installers who do installations on chargeable basis

Q 14.Are any Audio (Radio) channels also available in DD Free Dish?

Ans. Yes, at present there are 48 Radio channels available in the bouquet

Q 15. Is Prasar Bharati marketing/selling/appointing dealers for the Receive Equipment?

Ans. No. Prasar Bharati does not market any DD Free Dish STB directly. DD Free Dish STB and associated equipment is readily available in any local open market. These are also available all the major online e- market platform.

Q 16. Subscription Fee etc.?

Ans. It is clarified that no subscription fee is required to be paid to anybody for receiving the DD Free Dish signal. The service is totally free and the only expenditure involved is on one time purchase of Receive Equipment, which is available in the open market on nominal cost.

Q 17. What is the cost of the Receive Equipment for DD Free Dish?

Ans. The indicative price of a Receive System (consisting of Set Top Box, Dish Antenna, LNB , cable and other associated accessories) may be less than Rs.2000.It may however vary with the make of equipment and will also depend upon the local taxes/prevailing custom duty, etc.

Q.18 What are the items of receive equipment of DD Free Dish?

Ans. The receive equipment of DD free Dish contains following equipment/accessories:
i) Dish Antenna
ii) Set-Top-Box with remote
iii) RF Cable (to connect Set-Top-Box and Dish Antenna)

Q 20. Can the receive System be installed by the viewer himself?

Ans. Detailed procedure for installation is given in the website. However, it is advisable to take the help of skilled technical person for the installation of the system.

Q 21. What are the channels available on the DD FREE DISH platform?

Ans. DD Free Dish bouquet has a rich mix of Doordarshan TV Channels, Parliament TV channels, Private TV Channels and Educational TV channels. Popular General Entertainment, News, Music, Movies Devotional Regional TV Channels are part of the Private TV channel bouquet. In addition, there are 48 radio channels of Akashvani. The details of the channel list presently on DD Free Dish is available on the website, http://prasarbharati.gov.in/

Q 22. Are you providing any value added service like Internet etc. over your DTH platform?

Ans. No, presently no such service is being provided.

Q 23. Channel name in TV channel list is different than the Actual TV program shown? in that case what shall I do ?

Ans. In FTA STBs the change in program (TV channel) is detected but the change of name of channel is not stored automatically. In such cases, the required change of information can be stored by re-scanning the STB.

Q 24. How to update the changes in TV channel tuning manually?

Ans: The procedure to update the changes in program name varies from make to make of STBs. Follow the procedure mentioned in the installation manual supplied along-with the STB. However, as broad guidelines the steps involved are as indicated in the example given hereunder:

EXAMPLE-1.
Following are the steps to be followed to scan or search the channels on DD Free Dish DTH
bouquet.

Press ‘Menu’ Button on Remote of DD Free Dish Set-Top-Box
Go to ‘Installation’ or ‘Setup Programme’
Fill the details as below

After filling the above values go to ‘Search’ Press ‘OK’

The new TV and Radio services will be displayed.

For other frequencies and related parameters refer to table below.

Note:-The above-mentioned steps may be in different order in some of the STBs. In case there is any difficulty, viewers are advised to contact the nearest STB dealer.
The different transponder frequency, LNB frequency, symbol rate etc. required to tune to the STBs for all the channels available in the DD Free Dish are summarized as below: –

Q. 25 How to delete TV channel programme in STB manually?

Ans. The procedure to delete TV Channel programme in the TV channel list varies from
make to make of STBs. Follow the procedure mentioned in the installation manual supplied
along-with the STB.
EXAMPLE 2.

Following are the steps to be followed to delete channels in TV channel list.

Go to ‘Edit Programme’

Select- ‘Delete Option’

Select the channel, using up down key.

Please Note: Some low cost Set Top Boxes having limited storage capacity may not store all
the channels, so viewers having such boxes are advised to delete the pre-stored channels
using “Delete Option” in “Edit Programme Menu” before going for AUTO SCAN Option for
returning their Set Top Boxes. For Manual/Auto scan is required to select FREE/FTA
channels only.

Q 26: i) How private TV channels are placed on DD Free Dish? i) Addition of some of some of the channels on DD Free Dish like- Kids, sports, Bengali, Tamil. ii) How private TV channels are placed DD Free Dish: iii) Availability of some of paid channels like- colours, star plus, Star Sports etc

Ans: Prasar Bharati allots slot on DD Free Dish toprivate TV channels through a competitive
and transparent process of e-auction on annual basis.

Any private TV channel,permitted by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, may participate in the e-auction allotment process and submit bid to get a slot allotted for carrying the channel on DD Free Dish. The allotment is done for one year at a time.

Hence, only private TV channels which participate in bidding process remain successful bidders are shown on DD Free Dish. Kids, sports, Bengali &Tamil or any other channel which are permitted from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting , Govt of India are free to participate in auction to come on DD Free Dish.

Q 27: Is it possible to update latest channels list on phone through SMS

Ans: This facility is presently not available in DD Free Dish. The updated channels list remains available on website http://prasarbharati.gov.in.

Q 28: MPEG-2 and MPEG -4 both STBs are available in market which one should I prefer.

Ans: MPEG-4, as at very nominal cost difference you will get host of advantages. MPEG-4 STB not only receives all the FTA channels available on MPEG-2 STB but in addition it will also receive Channels available on MPEG-4. There are HD channels already available on MPEG-4 STB giving much better quality of reception. In future also there is possibility of enhancing channels available on MPEG-4. Also there are various Educational channels available on MPEG-4 STB which also are expected to increase.