On Day-2 of the e-auction for Prasar Bharati’s free-to-air DTH platform DD Freedish, Sri Adhikari Brothers’ Dhamaal and Sun Network’s Sun Hindi were the new entrants among a total of 13 slots sold so far.
While there were only two slots sold on Monday in the A+ bouquet, 11 channels picked up slots on Tuesday in the A+, A and B bouquets.
The successful bidders of the A+ bouquet are – Manoranjan TV (Rs 21.15 crore), Manoranjan Grand (Rs 21.25 crore), Dhamaal (Rs 20.85 crore), Dangal (Rs 20.80 crore), Sun Hindi (Rs 21 crore) and The Q (Rs 19.05 crore).
The reserve price for General Entertainment Channels (GEC) in Hindi/ Urdu language in Bucket A+ is Rs 15 crore.
In Bucket A, reserved for movie channels, Colors Cineplex Superhits (Rs 18.3 crore), Zee Anmol Cinema (Rs 18 crore), Star Utsav Movies (Rs 17.8 crore), Colors Cineplex Bollywood (Rs 17.75 crore), Star Gold Thrills (Rs 17.8 crore) and Sony Wah (Rs 17.5 crore) secured a slot each.
The base price for Bucket A, which consists of movie channels in Hindi/Urdu language was set at Rs 12 crore.
Chumbak TV was the only winner in Bucket B, reserved for music, sports, all channels of the Bhojpuri language and all other remaining genres of Hindi/Urdu.
The channel got a slot for Rs 16.75 crore over the base price of Rs 10 crore.
The auctions for the remaining buckets will continue on Wednesday. The auction is for the period from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.
Bucket C and D which consist of News and current affairs (Hindi/Urdu) and devotional/spiritual/Ayush, all genres of Marathi and Punjabi channels and news and current affairs (English) channels priced at Rs 7 crore and Rs 6 crore respectively.
Bucket R1 which is for all channels in languages not covered above is priced at Rs 3 crore.