Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has mopped up Rs 1073 crore from the e-auction of 65 MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish.  

On the last day of the auction on Monday, seven slots were sold, with the highest bid of Rs 18.7 crore coming from Bflix. Other channels that secured the slots on the last day were Enterr10 (Rs 17 crore), GNT (Rs 17.9 crore), India TV (Rs 18.65 crore), Bharat 24 (Rs 17.15 crore), ABZY Cool (Rs 16 crore) and Sun Marathi (Rs 18.5 crore). 

This is the first time in the history of DD Free Dish auction that the process went on for eight days. In fact, the auction was conducted over the weekend as well. 

Prasanth Kumar, CEO - GroupM South Asia, has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (ENBA) jury panel. Kumar, popularly known as PK, has over 25 years of industry experience.

Before joining GroupM, Kumar was associated with companies like Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge & McCann Erickson.

Kumar is currently President of AAAI for the 2022-23 term.

The exchange4media Group formulated enba in 2008 with the sole objective of recognizing the best in television news. The awards recognise and acknowledge industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of television broadcasting in India. This year, ENBA is in its 15th edition. The grand jury this year will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.

In the previous editions, the enba jury was led by Harivansh Narayan Singh – Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Dr Kiran Karnik – Former President – Nasscom, Dr Nasim Zaidi - Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, SY Quraishi – Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, N Ram – Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Ltd., Former Editor–in-Chief The Hindu and Group Newspapers, Sanjay Gupta – Managing Director – Star India. 

Prasar Bharati continued the e-auction for vacant MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish on the weekend with 25 channels picking up slots in rounds 2 and 3.

The starting receive prices for each round were Rs 16 crore and Rs 13 crore, respectively. 

While the buckets eligible for bidding in round 2 were A+, A, B, C, D and R1, round 3 saw bidding for buckets A, B, C, D and R1. 

According to industry sources, the pubcaster has mopped up approximately Rs 409 crore in these two rounds. 

The channels that secured slots in round 2 were Sony Wah (Rs 20.25 crore), Star Gold Thrill (Rs 17.85 crore), Colors Cineplex Bollywood (Rs 17.5 crore), Shemaroo Ashirwad (Rs 17 crore), Dangal 2 (Rs 16.8 crore), Shemaroo Umang (Rs 16.65 crore), Nazara (Rs 16.6 crore), Manoranjan Prime (Rs 16.7 crore), Goldmine Bollywood (Rs 16.7 crore), Ishara (Rs 16.75 crore), Goldmines (Rs 16.9 crore) and B4U Music (Rs 17.05 crore). 

The channels that picked up slots in round 3 were Showbox (Rs 17.05 crore), Dil Se (Rs 17.05 crore), Filmachi (Rs 16.7 crore), Goldmines (Rs 15 crore), Aastha Channel (Rs 15.05 crore), Times Navbharat (Rs 15.15 crore), another slot by Goldmines (Rs 15.35 crore), B4U Bhojpuri (Rs 15.05 crore), Bhojpuri Cinema (Rs 15.1 crore), News Nation (Rs 15.05 crore), Aaj Tak (Rs 15.1 crore), 9XM (Rs 15.2 crore) and Movie Plus (Rs 15.2 crore).  

In round 1, 33 channels bought slots for over Rs 538 crore.

The pubcaster has so far earned around Rs 947 crore from the e-auction. The remaining rounds (i.e. rounds 4, 5, 6 and 7) will go up for bidding on March 20.

Madan Bahal, Co-Founder and Managing Director of public relations firm - Adfactors PR, has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (ENBA) jury panel. Over the past 25 years, Bahal has served as a lead communication counsel in many of the milestone events of Corporate India, including fundraises, M&As, disputes, litigations, issues, and crises.

Bahal is known for providing leadership to the Indian PR industry during major events such as the global financial meltdown in 2008, and the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. He is also a member of the governing council of The Yoga Institute, Mumbai – the world's oldest body of organised yoga teaching.

In September 2022, the Arthur W. Page Society inducted Bahal into its Hall of Fame. In October 2020, PRovoke recognised his firm Adfactors PR as one of the seven global agencies of the decade.

enba was formulated by the exchange4media Group in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in television news, and for rewarding industry leaders who have shaped the future of television broadcasting in India. This year, enba is in its 15th edition, and the jury will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.

Prasar Bharati has mopped up over Rs 79 crore from the sale of seven slots under Bucket D of the DD Free Dish e-auction. 

This bucket comprises all other remaining genres of Hindi, Devotional/ Spiritual/Ayush, all genres of Marathi, Punjabi and Urdu channels and news and current affairs (English) channels. The base price was Rs 6 crore. 

Sources close to the development confirmed six channels that picked up the slots were Zee Chitramandir (Rs 13.40 crore), Zee Punjabi (Rs 12.45 crore), Fakt Marathi (Rs 12.65 crore), Shemaroo MarathiBana (Rs 13 crore), Manoranjan Movies for Rs (13.4 crore), Sanskar TV (Rs 14.6 crore) and Sun Marathi.

Bucket D has eight slots, out of which seven have been sold out. Bidding for the eighth slot will continue today.

ABP Network has picked the last slot on DD Free Dish. According to sources, ABP News secured the last slot on DD FreeDish for Rs 17.10 crore. 

Under Bucket C, which comprises news and current affairs (Hindi) channels, News18, Republic Bharat, TV9, Zee News, NDTV and ABP News bagged the slots. The base price for the bucket was Rs 7 crore.

Prasar Bharati has now made Rs103.15 crore from the six slots under Bucket C. 

The highest price paid in this category was Rs 19.85 crore.

As reported earlier by exchange4media, News18 bought the first slot for Rs 19.85 crore, Republic Bharat secured the second one for Rs 16.55 crore, TV9 took the third slot for Rs 14.55 crore, Zee News bought the fourth slot for Rs 15.5 crore and NDTV bought the slot for Rs 16.55 crore.

ZEEL is likely to repay IndusInd Bank's dues, according to media reports.

The media network is looking to resolve the insolvency proceedings for completing the merger with Sony.

As per media reports, dues amounting to Rs 83.7 crore may be settled on Friday, prompting the bank to withdraw the insolvency proceedings thereafter.

It may be noted that in February the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal stayed the insolvency order against ZEE.

ZEEL CEO Punit Goenka had said that the focus was now on the timely completion of the proposed merger.