Ten new FM radio stations become operational

New Delhi, May 30 (UNI) Adding to the expanding reach of the entertainment broadcast, ten new private FM radio channels have become operational in April, taking the total to 68.

These include, four FM channels by Adlabs Films Ltd, namely, BIG FM for Bareilly, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati and Jalandhar and two of Entertainment Network (India) Ltd. (ENIL) named Radio Mirchi for Patna and Jalandhar.

Besdies, there are three of Puran Multimedia, namely, Mantra FM for Bareily, Karnal and Jalandhar and MY FM Channel at Jalandhar, belonging to Synergy Media.

The Government received a sum of Rs. 7.28 crores as annual fee from the private FM radio broadcasters during the period.

During the month, permissions were also granted to three companies to uplink their TV channels from India. These are TG Angel Media Pvt. Ltd., Triveni Media Ltd. and Creative Channel Advertising and Marketing Pvt. Ltd.

Under the new policy spelled out by the government in 2005, additional 337 private FM radio channels are to be opened across the country, spread over 91 cities and towns in the phase two of the expansion of private FM radio In order to overcome the drawbacks of Phase-I, the bidding process has been made closed bid type to restrict speculative bidding of the open bidding.

Secondly, the fixed annual fees has been replaced with the revenue sharing pattern, under which private operators will have to pay four per cent of their revenue as annual fees.

Thirdly, withdrawal clauses have been made more stringent to ensure that those who bid for a particular frequency do come up with the radio station.

Under the new policy, care has been taken to ensure that a single large entity does not monopolize the airwaves.

Accordingly, no entity can own more than one FM radio station in the same city/town, and no single entity will be allowed to own more than 15 per cent of the total airwaves frequencies in the country.

UNI