Sunday, July 03, 2005

Common infr for Radio in 9 cities likely

Saturday, 02 July , 2005, 16:28

Chennai: The Union Government, which allowed 20 per cent Foreign Direct Investment in private FM radio services, will create common infrastructure for FM channels in nine cities, including Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, said a note prepared by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Today in Sify Finance

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A total of 48 FM channels will be available for bidding by private sector on the common infrastructure network created by the Government in these nine cities, it said.

The other cities where the common infrastructure would be created by the Central Government for FM channels include Delhi, Kolkota, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pune and Surat.

In Chennai and Delhi, six channels each would be available for biddings on phase-II of private FM Radio Broadcasting, after earmarking a total of seven channels (Chennai-3 and Delhi-4) for IGNOU and other educational institutions, it said.

Hyderabad and Bangalore would have the highest number of channels available for bidding at seven each, while Kolkota and Mumbai would have five FM radio channels for bidding, it said.

The Centre on Friday announced the second phase of the private FM radio broadcasting, replacing the existing licensing model with a revenue sharing regime.

While five channels will be available for bidding in Jaipur, another four would be put for bidding in Surat. In Pune, the number of channels available for bidding is three.

A total of 24 channels in these nine cities would be earmarked for IGNOU and other educational channels, it said.