On the fourth day of the DD FreeDish auction for MPEG-2 slots, eight channels secured positions in Bucket D, which included devotional / spiritual / ayush, all Marathi & Punjabi genres, and news & current affairs (English) channels, with a total auction value of Rs 124.85.
The channels winning slots in Bucket D include Sanskaar, Sadhana, Zee Punjabi, Aastha, Sun Marathi, Zee Chitramandir, and Manoranjan Movies Punjabi. Russian Today claimed the initial slot in Bucket D. Additionally, the auction for Bucket R1, covering channels not in any specific bucket, took place, and only one slot was sold, with Manoranjan Tamil Peer securing it for Rs 11.90 crore. The base prices for the two buckets were Rs 6 and Rs 3 crore, respectively.
Russian Today and Sanskaar channel made the highest bids in Bucket D, each paying Rs 18.10 crore, while Zee Chitramandir submitted the lowest bid at Rs 15.55 crore. In total, Prasar Bharati has garnered almost Rs 645 crore from the auctions of DD FreeDish MPEG-2 slots, involving 34 channels.
