Day 3 of the ongoing DD FreeDish MPEG-2 auction saw news broadcasters going all out to grab the slots. Six news channels secured slots for a total of Rs 112.25 crore. In last year’s auction, this figure stood at Rs 100.35 crore.

Bucket C, which includes all Hindi and Urdu language news networks, saw an increase of 11.86% in revenue collected from six spots that were picked up on Day 3 of theFreeDish auctions.

While ABP News and News18 each paid Rs 18.95 crore, R Bharat shelled out Rs 18 crore.

Aaj Tak paid Rs 18.85 crore; Zee News and NDTV each acquired slots for Rs 18.75 crore.

In the case of Bucket C, the reserve price stood at Rs 7 crore. TheTV news channelspaid 2.7 times the base price. While Zee News paid 20.97% more than the previous year, NDTV shelled out 13.29% more. In the case of Aaj Tak it was 24.83% higher, ABP (10.82%), and R Bharat (8.76%). News 18 was the only broadcaster to secure the slot by paying less, at 3.07%.

Sharing insights on the aggressive bidding patterns, an industry observer stated that news channels went all out for the auction because it is anelection year, and every news channel wants to secure a place on DD Free Dish. “Hence, we saw channels paying higher than the previous year.”

The singular slot in Bucket D (English news and spiritual channels) was sold for Rs 18.10 crore to Russia Today.

In all, Prasar Bharati has raked in nearly Rs 521 crore from the auctions so far. At the end of Day 3, 24 slots were sold.

For non-news channels, music, sports, Bhojpuri channels and all other remaining genres of Hindi/Urdu in Bucket B, the base price fixed was Rs 10 crore. Chumbak, Showbox, Flimchi Bhojpuri, B4U Music, Sports18 and Manoranjan Prime have secured the six slots of the bucket, taking the total revenue collected in this Bucket to Rs 103.1 crore.

Bucket A+ (Hindi GECs) and Bucket A (movie channels) were auctioned in the first two days of theauction. The six slots of Bucket A+ were secured by Manoranjan TV, Manoranjan Grand, Mastt, Dangal, Sun Neon and The Q. It witnessed the highest bid of Rs 21.25 crore and the lowest was Rs 19.05 crore. The entire bucket was sold for over Rs 123 crore.

Meanwhile, the pubcaster earned Rs 171.5 crore from Bucket A (movie channels in Hindi/Urdu language). The reserve price for Bucket A’s six slots was kept at Rs 12 crore. The highest bid in the category was Rs 18.30 crore and the lowest was Rs 17.50 crore. The channels that secured the slots were Colors Rishtey Cineplex, Zee Anmol Cinema, Star Utsav Movies, Colors Cineplex Bollywood, Star Gold Thrill and Sony Wah.

The auction will continue today for the remaining buckets.