Prasar Bharati generated Rs 862 crore through the e-auction of 46 MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish. In the previous year’s annual auction, the public broadcaster earned Rs 1,073 crore from 65 slots on DD FreeDish. On the final day of the MPEG-2 auction, 13 channels successfully secured slots.
Movies Plus Kammam Malyali and Popular TV secured slots in R1, paying Rs 13.30 crore and Rs 13.10 crore respectively. Manoranjan Tamil Peer acquired the R1 slot for Rs 11.90 crore on day 4. In subsequent rounds, channels like Big Magic, News24, Rapchik Bhojpuri, Shemaroo Umang, India TV, Action Movies, Dangal 2, Goldmines, Zee Biscope, Masti, and Shemaroo TV secured slots across various buckets.
The reserve prices for the remaining rounds are Rs 16 crore (bucket A+), Rs 13 crore (bucket A), Rs 11 crore (bucket B), Rs 6 crore (bucket C), Rs 7 crore (bucket D), and Rs 4 crore (bucket R1). On the final auction day, the public broadcaster earned Rs 217.85 crore from 13 channels.
The auction started on February 19th. Prasar Bharati has garnered nearly Rs 288 crore in the first two days of the auction, selling 13 slots for the period from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.