Govt. plans common infrastructure for FM Radio in 9 cities

Chennai, July 3 (PTI): The Centre, which allowed 20 per cent Foreign DirectInvestment in private FM radio services, will create common infrastructurefor these channels in nine cities, including Chennai, Bangalore andHyderabad, a note prepared by the Information and Broadcasing Ministry said.A total of 48 FM channels would be available for bidding by the privatesector on the common infrastructure network created by the Government inthese nine cities, it said.The other cities where the common infrastructure would be created for FMchannels include Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pune and Surat.In Chennai and Delhi, six channels each would be available for biddings onphase-II of private FM Radio Broadcasting, after earmarking a total of sevenchannels (Chennai-3 and Delhi-4) for IGNOU and other educationalinstitutions, it said.Hyderabad and Bangalore would have the highest number of channels availablefor bidding at seven each, while Kolkata and Mumbai would have five FM radiochannels each for bidding, it said.The Centre on Friday announced the second phase of private FM radiobroadcasting, replacing the existing licensing model with a revenue sharingregime.While five channels will be available for bidding in Jaipur, another fourwould be up for grabs in Surat. In Pune, the number of channels availablefor bidding is three.A total of 24 channels in these nine cities would be earmarked for IGNOU andother educational channels, it said.
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