On Day 4 of the DD FreeDish auction for MPEG-2 slots, eight channels bagged slots for Rs 124.85 in Bucket D that consists of devotional/spiritual/ayush, all genres of Marathi & Punjabi and news & current affairs (English) channels. The auction for Bucket R1, which includes all channels not covered in any bucket, was also held on the fourth day. Only one slot was sold in this bucket.

The channels that bagged slots in Bucket D were Sanskaar, Sadhana, Zee Punjabi, Aastha, Sun Marathi, Zee Chitramandir and Manoranjan Movies Punjabi. Russian Today secured the first slot in Bucket D. Manoranjan Tamil Peer bought the only slot sold in Bucket R1 for Rs 11.90 crore. The base price for the two buckets were Rs 6 and Rs 3 crore, respectively. 

Bucket D saw the highest bid from Russian Today and Sanskaar channel that paid Rs 18.10 crore each. The lowest bid of Rs 15.55 crore came from Zee Chitramandir.

Overall, Prasar Bharati has earned nearly Rs 645 crore from 34 channels in the DD FreeDish MPEG-2 slot auctions so far.

The DD FreeDish auction began on February 19, 2024. On the first day, only two channels secured the slots for Rs 21.25 crore and Rs 21.15 crore, respectively, in Category A+ (Hindi GEC). The slots were secured by Manoranjan TV Group for its general entertainment channels - Manoranjan Grand and Manoranjan TV.  The reserve price for General Entertainment Channels (GEC) - Hindi or Urdu - in Bucket A+ was fixed at Rs 15 crore.

Prasar Bharati’s earning skyrocketed on Day 2, with the pubcaster earning Rs 213 crore from the sale of nine channels. Six slots of Bucket A+, which comprises GEC channels, and five slots in Bucket A, which comprises movie channels, were sold.

On Day 3, which saw the sale of slots in the crucial news and current affairs (Hindi/Urdu), Prasar Bharati had six news channels buying slots for a total of Rs 112.25 crore. Zee News and NDTV bagged the first two slots for Rs 18.75 crore each. The third slot was picked up by Aaj Tak for Rs 18.85 crore. ABP News, News18 and R Bharat bagged the other three slots for Rs 18.95 crore, Rs 18.95 crore and Rs 18 crore, respectively. 

The bidding for news and current affairs (Hindi/Urdu) saw the most competitive bidding, with the six news channels securing slots for a total of Rs 112.25 crore. In last year’s auction, this figure stood at Rs 100.35 crore. Thus, this was an increase of 11.86% in revenue collection. In the case of Bucket C, the reserve price stood at Rs 7 crore. The TV news channels paid 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%). News18 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 an election 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 third day auction began with Bucket B which comprises music, sports, all channels of bhojpuri language and all other remaining genres of Hindi/Urdu with a base price of Rs 10 crore. The bucket had six slots and these were secured by Chumbak, Showbox, Flimchi Bhojpuri, B4U Music, Sports18 and Manoranjan Prime. The entire bucket collected revenue of Rs 103.1 crore.  

The slots are being allotted for one year, from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.