MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) earned revenue of Rs 836.52 crore from the direct-to-home (DTH) sector for the year 2014-15. This was a considerable increase from the Rs 395.43 crore that the MIB earned from the sector in the previous year (2013-14). For the year 2012-13, the revenue from the sector stood at Rs 308.66 crore.

Apart from Doordarshan’s free-to- air DD Direct Plus, there are six private DTH players in India namely Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct TV, Reliance Big TV, Airtel Digital TV and Videocon d2h.

On the other hand, the revenue that the MIB earned from the auction of FM Radio dropped considerably in 2014-15 to Rs 80.30 crore from Rs 102.21 crore in 2013-14. In 2012-13, the revenue from the sector stood at Rs 61.27 crore. 

The FM Phase-I Policy, which was approved by the Government in July, 1999, met with the limited success and saw a total number of 21 channels are operational in 12 cities under this scheme.

On the other hand, the improved FM Phase-II Policy was notified in July, 2005 after considering the recommendations of Dr.Amit Mitra Committee and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). FM Policy Phase-II has been well received by all stake holders. It has resulted in huge growth in FM radio industry. However, many cities still remained uncovered by the private FM radio broadcasting.

With the huge success of Phase II, FM Phase III Policy extended FM radio services to about 227 new cities, in addition to the present 86 cities, with a total of 839 new FM radio channels in 294 cities, Phase-III policy will result in coverage of all cities with a population of one lakh and above with private FM radio channels. The government has earned revenue by auction of FM channels to the private service providers.