The Union Cabinet has approved the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting's proposal for granting new FM radio licenses to private players, under the Phase III of FM radio expansion. It has also cleared the Ministry's proposal to an e-auction on the lines of the 3G and BWA spectrum auction, as recommended by the GoM on Licensing Methodology for FM Phase-III. The policy for expansion also features a number of new proposals including increasing the FDI+FII limit in private FM broadcasting companies to 26% (from 20%), permitting the carriage of AIR news bulletins, allowing broadcasters to own more than one channel in the city on a conditional basis and giving incentives for rolling out services in special regions of Jammu & Kashmir, North Eastern States and island territories. According to a statement from the Government of India, FM Phase-III will extend 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, and will result in coverage of all cities with a population of one lakh and above with private FM radio channels. Proposals under Phase-III: - Broadcasters have been permitted the carriage of AIR news bulletins on their stations. Also content featuring certain categories like information related to sporting events, traffic and weather, coverage of cultural events, festivals, coverage of topics pertaining to examinations, results, admissions, career counseling, availability of employment opportunities, public announcements pertaining to civic amenities like electricity, water supply, natural calamities, health alerts,…
