With the second round of bidding for the e-auction of DD Freedish slots commencing on Friday, News24 bought a slot for Rs 17.85 crore in the Bucket A+.
The news channel, which skipped the e-auction last year, paid a little above 10% over the base price of Rs 16 crore.
In contrast, the six news channels had paid more than 2.6X of the base price in the first round of the Bucket C.
Earlier on February 21, the desperation of Hindi news channels was at its peak on the third day of the e-auction for DD Freedish slots in Bucket C as five leading broadcasters ended up paying more than Rs 18.75 crore each.
In total, they exceeded the amount paid last year.
ABP News and News18 India shell out Rs 18.95 crore each while Aaj Tak buys a slot for Rs 18.85 crore. Zee News and NDTV India pay Rs 18.75 crore each. Republic Bharat buys the last slot of the first round for Rs 18 crore.
The base price for Bucket C in the first round was Rs 7 crore.