DD Freedish e-auction: Prasar Bharati puts an end to speculations; releases winners’ list

New Delhi: Amid uncertainty around the recently held e-auction for MPEG-2 slots on DD Freedish, Prasar Bharati finally released the list of 60 successful bidders after six days on Thursday.

With this, the pubcaster has put an end to the speculations of re-auction of the slots.

Also read: Bidding strategy flaws or conspiracy? The backstory of DD Freedish auction crisis

With a massive drop in the bidding prices starting Round 2 of e-auctions, the pubcaster received complaints regarding information leaks as well as cartelisation.

The number of slots sold this year is lower than the 64 slots auctioned in 2024, confirming market intelligence about fewer bidders participating in the latest e-auctions.

The validity of the slots is for the period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026. The auctions took place from February 10 to 14, 2025. 

This year, top GECs JioStar, Sony and Zee Entertainment, returned for the 7th annual e-auction of Freedish. 

Also read: Is Prasar Bharati suspecting a cartel at play behind drop in DD Freedish prices?

Here’s the full list of the successful bidders:

https://prasarbharati.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Reult-Publish.pdf

The pubcaster is yet to release the final earnings from the e-auctions concluded on Friday, February 14, 2025. However, it is estimated that the revenues from e-auctions for 2025-26 were down by Rs 200-300 crore. 

Last year, Prasar Bharati earned approximately Rs 1,157 crore by selling 64 MPEG-2 slots. In 2023, it had made Rs 1,071 crore from the e-auctions.