The much-awaited second batch of auctions of private FM
Radio Phase III, which began on Wednesday Oct 26,2016, saw 58 channels in 42 cities
become provisional winners.
In the latest round, 266
FM channels are up for grabs in 92 cities. On day one of the auctions,
four rounds of bidding took place with the cumulative provisional
winning price at ₹182 crore, compared to their aggregate reserve price
of about ₹ 179.2 crore, a statement from the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting said.
The ongoing process is a
simultaneous multiple round ascending (SMRA) e-auction being conducted
online. Fourteen bidders are in the fray, including Entertainment
Network India Ltd, Kal Radio Ltd, South Asia FM Ltd, The Malayala
Manorama Company and Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing.
Hyderabad
, where one frequency is up for auction, saw a provisional winning
price of ₹20.83 crore at the end of four rounds of bidding. The
provisional winning price of one channel of Dehradun closed at ₹15.61
crore.
Earlier, M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of Information
and Broadcasting, had said that he is optimistic about a positive
response for the auction.
The NDA Govt expects that
this phase of auction will help take private FM Radio to 69 new cities
where 227 channels have been put out for auction, he said.
The
States of Uttarakhand and Nagaland, and the Border Area Towns of
Poonch, Mokukchung, Leh, Kathua, Kargil and Bhaderwa will have private
FM channels for the first time, the Ministry added. At the end of the
first day, some of the cities that received bids included Agartala,
Aizawl, Bhaderwah and Leh. Meanwhile, 39 unsold channels from 23 cities
of batch I of Phase III have also been put on auction.
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