Govt gets over Rs two billion from 66 FM stations in second batch Phase III

MUMBAI: A cumulative provisional Rs 2,002.4 million was earned against the aggregate reserve price of about Rs 9,159.1 million from e-auction of 66 FM channels in 48 cities in the second batch of Phase III.

The auction had commenced from 26 October 2016 and ended on the twenty-sixth day 14 December 2016.

According to an announcement of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on 27 February, 266 FM channels had been shortlisted but only 66 channels made it to the winning list.

ENIL (Entertainment Network India Limited) won the maximum number with 21 channels in different cities and bid for total of Rs 480.9 million.

Interestingly, only two channels received bids of more than Rs 100 million as compared to 12 channels in the first batch. Kal Radio Ltd’s Hyderabad station bid a winning price is Rs 23,43,48,266 and South Asia FM Ltd’s Dehradun station had a winning price of Rs 15,61,00,590.

Sambhaav Media Ltd won two stations in Jammu and Kashmir for Rs 5,00,000 each at Kathua and Leh. JCL India Ltd’s bagged stations in Kargil and Leh for Rs 5,00,000 each. South Asia FM Ltd’s won a station at Leh with Rs 5,00,000.

Stations in four north eastern cities were bagged in the e-auction. Of these, three went to Purvy Broadcast Pvt Ltd: Aizwal for Rs 20,09,444, Dhubri for Rs 5,00,000, and Itanagar for Rs 43,72,914. Agartala went to South Asia FM Ltd for Rs 70,71,529.

The Government had also failed to get any bidders for 23 cities in the first batch. The government had received Rs.11035.1 million from winners of 96 channels in 55 cities against the cumulative reserve price of Rs.5500 million for the first batch

The Phase III covers 839 FM Radio channels in 294 cities but the auction is being conducted in batches in view of the large number.  

The e-Auction of the first batch of FM Phase-III comprising 135 vacant channels in 69 cities which were already covered by FM was conducted from 27 July 2015 to 9 September 2015.

Elated, ENIL CEO Prashant Pandey said, "We are very excited with the results of the 2nd batch of auctions! Our 21 new cities give us depth in the most vibrant radio markets in the country. With this expansion, we will have 74 frequencies in 64 cities. We look forward to expanding more in the future. However we want the government to make amendments in the policy and help make the smaller stations viable"

Big FM CEO Tarun Katial said, “Currently we have three stations in that market (Bhojpuri belt) which will become seven by the end of next month. This gives us 360 degree appeal. In Jharkhand we already have two stations in Ranchi and Jameshadpur. We will now get Patna and Muzaffarpur in Bihar. So we are now in Purvanchal and in Varanasi and Gorakhpur.”   

Also read:Sixty-six FM channels in 48 cities sold provisionally in second batch of Phase III

The following Table summarises 26 days of bidding during channel allocation stage: