Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 27
Mokokchung is set to have its first private FM Channel as the much-awaited second batch of auctions for private FM Radio Phase III began on Wednesday. The bidding saw 58 channels in 42 cities become provisional winners. The States of Uttarakhand and Nagaland, and the Border Area Towns of Poonch, Mokokchung, Leh, Kathua, Kargil and Bhaderwa will have private FM channels for the first time, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting informed.
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 Rs 182 crore, compared to their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 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 Rs 20.83 crore at the end of four rounds of bidding. The provisional winning price of one channel of Dehradun closed at Rs 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 Centre 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.
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.
While the Ministry has expressed optimism at the success of the bidding, some experts from the industry have however had pointed out that the high reserve prices could emerge as a challenge during this phase of auction.
