NEW DELHI: Doordarshan earned Rs 13.1 crore from the auction of two channels to fill vacancies in the total of 64 channels on its free-to-air DTH platform Freedish.

Although the reserve price for the 25th online auction was Rs 4.3 crore, Sony Pal won a slot for Rs 7.6 crore while Manoranjan Movies got it for Rs 5.5 crore.

Doordarshan had raised the reserve price in the 24th auction after several auctions with the price of Rs 3.7 crore per slot, though Indiantelevision.com had learnt that the bid amount went up to Rs 4.7 crore in earlier e-auctions.

The reserve price in the 15th e-auction was Rs 3 crore and was raised to Rs 3.7 crore in the 16th auction.

Sources also told Indiantelevision.com that Freedish will be encrypted shortly from Mpeg2 to Mpeg4 to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, but it would remain free-to-air. This will also enable it to reach 112 channels by the end of March.

Currently, Freedish has slots for 64 channels including its own channels as well as Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV.