Govt notifies new FM Radio policy 7/14/2005 12:01:42 PM IST The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) has formulated a policy on expansion of FM radio broadcasting services through private agencies (Phase-II). The objectives of Phase-II should be to attract private agencies to supplement and complement the efforts of All India Radio (AIR) by operationalising radio stations that provide programmes with local content and relevance, improve the quality of fidelity in reception and generation, encouraging participation by local talent and generating employment, the Ministry says in a statement.Last month, I&B Minister S. Jaipal Reddy announced the much-awaited (and perhaps long-overdue) Phase-II expansion of FM radio broadcasting services through private agencies. As part of the new policy, the FM radio players, new as well as existing ones, would switch over to a revenue-sharing regime from the current license fee structure. Existing FM station operators would be allowed to migrate to the new regime as well, but for a one-time entry fee. The new FM radio broadcasters would have to shell out a one-time entry fee based on the closed bidding process. Reddy said he would give out licenses in 90 more cities. The Ministry would separately issue detailed tender notice in due course enabling the interested parties to participate. All FM radio service providers would have to share 4% of their gross annual revenue or 10% of the reserve one-time entry fee limit for the concerned city, whichever is higher. Gross revenue for this purpose would be the gross revenue without deduction of taxes. Reddy also said that 20% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) would be allowed into the companies running the private FM stations, within the existing 20% cap for Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).The process of granting permission for new participants under Phase II should consist of two rounds. The first round should be for pre-qualification and only applicants qualifying in accordance with prescribed eligibility criteria would proceed to the next round for making financial bids for specific channels in different cities.Participants of Phase I, who exercise their option to be considered for Phase II, including those licensees who are eligible for automatic migration for channels already operationalised by them, should be eligible to be considered for the pre-qualification round for fresh tendering under Phase II, subject to their fulfilling the prescribed eligibility criteria.Only companies registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956 should be eligible for bidding and obtaining permission for FM radio channels. Bidding would be conducted at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai for the respective four regions of the country with dates fixed at weekly intervals. Since companies would be eligible to participate in bidding for channels in all the four regions, their financial competence should be assessed on the basis of the following indicative criteria:Minimum net worth required for one channel per center in all regions:· D category Centers: Rs5mn · C category Centers: Rs10mn · B category Centers: Rs20mn · A or A+ category Centers: Rs30mn · All Centers: Rs100mn However, each company may intimate in writing the maximum number of channels in different categories of cities it desires to bid for and its eligibility would be determined accordingly. In case the applicant does not wish to intimate these details, the applicant company should have the minimum net worth of Rs100mn.Every pre-qualified applicant may apply for allotment of only one channel in each city through a separate financial bid for payment of one-time entry fee for each channel. Every applicant should be allowed to run only one channel per city, provided the total number of channels allocated to an entity is within the overall ceiling of 15% of all allocated channels in the country. No entity should hold permission for more than 15% of all channels allotted. In the event of allotment of more channels than prescribed, the entity would have the discretion to decide which channels it would like to surrender and the Government should refund its one-time entry fee for these channels in full.No news and current affairs programs are permitted under Phase-II. Every permission holder should follow the AIR Program and Advertising Code as amended from time to time. In the event of the Government announcing the setting up of a Broadcast Regulatory Authority, by whatever name called, and the content regulations are modified, the permission holder should be obliged to conform to the revised guidelines.
Via: http://indiainfoline.com/ Regards & 73s Mukesh Kumar MUZAFFARPUR INDIA __________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your friends 'n family snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://in.photos.yahoo.com ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- World Radio TV Handbook 2005 is out. Order yours from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823077942/hardcoredxcom ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list [email protected] http://dallas.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt
