NEW DELHI: E-auction for the third phase of FM radio channels will commence in June, Information and Broadcasting secretary Uday Kumar Varma said.

The Union Cabinet had approved auctions for the third phase almost a year back on 7 July 2011, but no date had been fixed.

Private FM radio broadcasters are eagerly waiting for the date announcement as they have to ready capital before that. The bidding could turn aggressive, particularly in the metros where more frequencies will open up.

The government expects to earn Rs 17.33 billion from auctioning the radio licences.

FM Phase-III policy extends FM radio services to about 227 new cities, in addition to the present 86 cities, with a total of 839 new FM radio stations.

The government has hiked the cap on foreign holding from 20 per cent to 26 per cent.

The private radio operators are also allowed to carry news, but only from bulletins of All India Radio (AIR).

FM radio broadcasters are struggling with the slow pace of revenue growth and many of them are in losses. The revenue market for FM radio is estimated at Rs 12 billion.

NEW DELHI: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Secretary Uday Kumar Varma said today that the Government‘s roadmap for digitisation will be met with Parliament clearing the Cable Networks Bill.

He also lauded the steps taken by the news and general entertainment channels towards content regulation.

Varma was addressing the second annual symposium on ‘Media and New Technology - New Technologies, New Challenges: Indian Media Issues in Global Perspective‘ which concluded today.
 
The meet was hosted by Star India and was in continuation with last year‘s tradition, exploring international and comparative perspectives on media regulation as it affects current debates and the future role of information in society.

The other panel discussions involving media experts from both from India and abroad shed lot of light on the evolution of media in India and the need for a broader approach rather than a narrow-heavy handed approach. The speakers included Wikileaks Former Legal Advisor Mark Stephens; Al Jazeera Head of Legal Affairs Osama Abu-Dehays; NYU Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, Arvind Rajagopal; Aspen Institute Communications & Society Fellow Blair Levin; The Hindu editor Siddharth Varadarajan; Alternative Law Forum- Bangalore Siddharth Narrain; The Times of India Senior Editor Manoj Mitta; TheHoot.com founder Sevanti Ninan; and Center for Global Communication Studies, University of Pennsylvania director Monroe Price.

The meet, an initiative of Oxford University‘s Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, in cooperation with its academic partners - the National Law University-Delhi, the National University of Juridical Sciences-Kolkata, and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, brought together the diverse views of academics, bureaucrats, policymakers, industry leaders, civil society and legal experts to discuss such issues as law and responsibilities of self-regulation of media entities, regulation of the Internet, and emerging technologies in the context of freedom of information, privacy, and freedom of expression.

Star India EVP and General Counsel - Legal and Regulatory Affairs Deepak Jacob said: "The PCMLP will now prepare a report which will be circulated to all the stakeholders in the Indian media sector."

This Symposium follows the 2011 Price Media Law Moot Court Competition - South Asia Rounds that took place on December 15-18 at the National Law University - Delhi.

The Programme in Comparative Media Law & Policy (PCMLP) at the University of Oxford‘s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies is a research and policy programme that brings together scholars, policymakers and practitioners to study contemporary issues in global media law and policy. PCMLP has a particular interest in understanding media and governance in various environments through a comparative perspective emphasizing the importance of the culture and values of all the actors, both local and international.

PCMLP was founded in 1996 by Professor Monroe E Price and Stefaan Verhulst with a grant from the Markle Foundation and the cooperation of the Howard M Squadron Programme in Law, Media, and Society at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.

NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry will pursue with the Finance Ministry issues relating to greater inflow of foreign direct investment, incentives to the cable TV industry, and concessions like customs exemption for set top boxes as part of its attempt to push digitisation by December 2014.

I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma said the government was also concerned about the shortage of digital STBs and was examining ways to increase indigenous production if the sunset dates had to be met.

He reiterated that the Government stood committed to phasing out analogue by December 2014 from the entire country as this would help the cable and broadcasting industry and also the viewer.
 
Addressing a meet of CEOs of Broadcasting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said the government was working towards a programme for capacity building for the cable operators and would introduce orientation programmes for this.

At the same time, the Government asked to the industry to come forward with ways to create public awareness about the benefits of digitisation. He said the industry and the Government would have to work together on this.

He said he failed to understand why the industry was not coming forward to discuss the spectrum issues with the government.

Varma said the whole aim should be to visualise how the industry wanted to see the TV industry 10 years from now.

He said no policy could be carried forward by the government without taking the industry with it, and therefore it was important that the two should work together.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman JS Sarma referred to the plans of the regulator to increase the reach of broadband. He also said Trai would open regional offices in different parts of the country to help the broadcast and telecom industries. He said the regulator had been working in close coordination with the government on digitisation.

CII Media and Entertainment Committee chairman Amit Khanna referred to meetings held with Sarma and said this process would continue. He said that the CII and the entertainment industry would also meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee early next month in connection with its wish list for the entertainment sector.

He also announced that the PriceWaterhouse Coopers was preparing a vision document on the radio industry in the country.

He said the CII would be organising a one-day meet on content in cinema and TV in Mumbai in March.

The meet was attended by the heads of various television channels, apart from members of civil rights groups and research bodies.

NEW DELHI: An inter-ministerial committee (IMC) headed by Information and Broadcasting Ministry Additional Secretary Rajiv Takroo has been set up to finalise the details of the e-auction for the third phase of FM Radio in the country.

The committee with nine members, of whom I&B Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) Supriya Sahu will be the member secretary, will "guide and supervise the process of e-auction and grant of license to private parties" for Phase III.

It will finalise and seek approval of the request for proposal document for selection of agency for conducting the e-auction for award of license of FM channels; review the auction framework, finalise the auction documentation, conduct and oversee open house sessions for stakeholders, and guide the agency selected for the e-auction.

The IMC will report to I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma. Other members are the representatives of the Telecommunications, Information Technology, Legal Affairs, and Economic Affairs departments apart from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, all of whom will not be below the rank of joint secretary.

In addition, there will be representation of the director-finance from the Internal Finance Wing of the I&B Ministry, and the Director General of All India Radio.

A separate Appellate Review Committee to scrutinise the short-listing of prospective bidders has also been set up in the Ministry, headed by the Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Ministry. It has six other members including the Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) who will be member secretary. They include representatives from Corporate Affairs, Revenue (Central Board of Direct Taxes), Telecom, Legal Affairs, and the internal Finance Wing of the I&B Ministry.

This committee will scrutinise various details including the networth of prospective bidders and put them up on the Ministry website, scrutinise bank guarantees and oversee the other work in that connection.