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Tag: FM Phase III

  • FM Phase III Day 5: Delhi crosses Rs 100 crore as total bids touch Rs 714 crore

    FM Phase III Day 5: Delhi crosses Rs 100 crore as total bids touch Rs 714 crore

    NEW DELHI: Even as twenty rounds of FM Phase III e-auction ended with four more rounds today, the provisional winning price for one channel in Delhi crossed the Rs 100 crore mark.

     

    The bidding for this one channel in Delhi got Provisional winning price of Rs 105.23 crore, which is more than three times its reserve price of Rs 31.42 crore.

     

    At the close of the fifth day of bidding, 80 channels in 55 cities became provisionally winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price of around Rs 714 crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 391 crore.

     

    Thus the summation of provisional winning prices exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch by about Rs 163.48 crore or 29.71 per cent. The total reserve price of the first batch of 135 channels in the existing 69 cities is Rs 550.18 crore.

     

    The fifth day of the e-auction was hectic but there were still no bids in as many as 14 cities though the provisional winning price steadied at the Clock round Price in the other cases.

     

    The Auction began for the fifth day with Auction Activity Requirement set at 80 per cent.

     

    The demand over the price in many cities fell by up to three per cent below the aggregate demand.

     

    The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the Next Clock Round was five in the metros of Delhi and Mumbai, and in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Rourkela, Jaipur, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Nasik, Patna, and Rajkot and eight per cent in Bhubaneswar.

     

    The highest Provisional winning price – the same as the Clock round price at the start of the twentieth round – was in Delhi – Rs 105.23 crore followed by Mumbai – Rs 82.72 crore with both showing sizeable increase compared to the first three days.

     

    Among cities recording more than Rs 10 crore, it rose sizeably in Bengaluru – Rs 54.58 crore; Ahmedabad – Rs 30.33 crore; Pune – Rs 29.11 crore and Chennai – Rs 29.82 crore and marginally in Chandigarh at Rs 15.92 crore.

     

    Hyderabad at Rs 18 crore, Lucknow at Rs 14 crore and Cochin at Rs 10.21 crore remained static.

  • Day 4: FM Phase III provisional winning price crosses Rs 550 crore mark

    Day 4: FM Phase III provisional winning price crosses Rs 550 crore mark

    NEW DELHI: The summation of provisional winning prices at the end of the fourth day of the FM Phase III surpassed Rs 550.18 crore, which is the total reserve price of 135 channels.

     

    The fourth day of the e-auction showed marked enthusiasm but there were still no bids in as many as 14 cities and the provisional winning price was lower than the Clock round Price in some cases.

     

    In all, 16 rounds of e-auction have been completed including four today (30 July) for the 135 FM channels in all the existing 69 cities of the first stage being opened.

     

    At the close of the fourth day of bidding, 80 channels in 55 cities became provisionally winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price of around Rs 643 crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 391 crore.

     

    The auction began for the fourth day with Auction Activity Requirement set at 80 per cent.

     

    The demand over the price in many cities fell by up to three per cent below the aggregate demand.

     

    The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the Next Clock Round was five per cent in the metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, and in Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Rourkela, Jodhpur, and Pune.

     

    The highest Provisional winning price – the same as the Clock round price at the start of the sixteenth round – was in Delhi – Rs 86.57 crore, followed by Mumbai – Rs 78 crore with both showing sizeable increase compared to the first three days. On the other hand, Hyderabad was at Rs 18 crore, Lucknow at Rs 14 crore, Cochin at Rs 10. 21 crore and Chandigarh at Rs 15.76 crore.

     

    Among cities recording more than Rs 10 crore, it rose sizeably in Bengaluru – Rs 44.90 crore; Pune – Rs 29.11 crore; Chennai – Rs 25.50 crore and Ahmedabad – Rs 24.95 crore.

  • Day 3: FM Phase III sees over Rs 170 crore increase in provisional winning price

    Day 3: FM Phase III sees over Rs 170 crore increase in provisional winning price

    NEW DELHI: The third day of the e-auction for FM Radio channels in Phase III picked up marginally but there were no bids in as many as 14 cities and the provisional winning price was lower than the Clock round Price in some cases.

     

    In all, 12 rounds of e-auction have been completed including four today for all the 135 FM channels in all the existing 69 cities of the first stage being opened.

     

    At the close of third day of bidding, 80 channels in 55 cities became provisionally winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price of around Rs 549 crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 377 crore. 

     

    The Auction began today with Auction Activity Requirement set at 80 per cent.

     

    The demand over the price in many cities fell by up to three per cent below the aggregate demand. 

     

    The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the Next Clock Round was five in the metros of Mumbai and Chennai, and in Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Rourkela, Jodhpur, and Pune and went up to eight per cent in Dehi.

     

    The highest Provisional winning price – the same as the Clock round price at the start of the eighth round – was in Mumbai – Rs 67.38 crore followed closely by Delhi – Rs 65.45 crore, with both showing sizeable increase compared to the first two days. 

     

    Hyderabad and Lucknow remained static at Rs 18 crore and Rs 14 crore respectively. Among cities recording more than Rs 10 crore, it rose sizeably in Bengaluru – Rs 36.94 crore; and marginally higher in Chennai – Rs 20.98 crore; Pune – Rs 23.95 crore; and Ahmedabad – Rs 20.53 crore. In Cochin at Rs 10.21 crore and Chandigarh at Rs 15.61 crore, it fell just marginally below the clock round price.

  • FM Phase III e-auctions off to slow start; Govt claims Rs 395 crore as winning price

    FM Phase III e-auctions off to slow start; Govt claims Rs 395 crore as winning price

    NEW DELHI: The e-auction for FM Radio channels in Phase III got off to a slow start with no bids in certain cities and the provisional winning price lower than the clock round price.

     

    In all, four rounds of e-auction were held today with 135 FM channels in all the 69 cities of the first stage being opened.

     

    At the close of first day of bidding, 78 channels in 54 cities became provisionally winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price of around Rs 395 crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 357 crore. 

     

    The e-auction began today (27 July) with Auction Activity Requirement set at 80 per cent. A total of 26 bidders were allowed to participate in the auction.

     

    However, there were no bids for 15 cities and the demand over the price in many cities fell by up to three per cent below the aggregate demand.

     

    The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the next clock round was five per cent or higher in the metros of Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai and in cities like Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Aurangabad, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Jodhpur, Karnal, Patna and Pune.

     

    The highest provisional winning price – the same as the clock round price at the end of the fourth round – was in Mumbai – Rs 41.91 crore, Delhi – Rs 37.41 crore, Bengaluru – Rs 25 crore, Hyderabad – Rs 18 crore, Pune – Rs 16.21 crore, Chandigarh – Rs 15.61 crore; Chennai – Rs 14.2 crore; Lucknow – Rs 14 crore and Ahmedabad Rs 13.89 crore.

     

    The ongoing auction is a Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) e-auction, which is being conducted online from Auction Control Room No. 404 B Wing, Shastri Bhawan.

  • Security clearance clause for FM Phase III applies to companies & directors, not shareholders: Delhi HC

    Security clearance clause for FM Phase III applies to companies & directors, not shareholders: Delhi HC

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court, which permitted Red FM to take part in the FM Phase III e-auctions that commenced today (27 July), said Digital Radio (Delhi) Broadcasting Ltd and Digital Radio (Mumbai) Broadcasting Ltd, which run Red FM in these two cities have not been alleged to be vehicles of any transgression of law and have been functioning since 2002-2003 without there being any allegation regarding their functioning resulting in any security concerns.

     

    Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva, who had read out the operative portion yesterday (26 July), said Clause 3.8 of the Notice Inviting Applications had reference only to the company and its directors and there is no mention of its shareholders.

     

    Both Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanithi Maran are shareholders and therefore the Clause does not apply to them.

     

    At the outset, the Court said it was not adjudicating on the validity of clause 3.8. Although appeals have been made seeking the quashing of Clause 3.8, the main thrust of the arguments of Counsel Kapil Sibal and Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi was on the interpretation of Clause 3.8 and whether the same was applied correctly or not. In any event, since the petitioners have participated in the auction process, they cannot now challenge Clause 3.8.

     

    The court also said that it was not touching upon the policy of requiring a security clearance. “We are, as rightly pointed out by Mr Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General of India, not sitting in appeal over the decision of the Government as to the security angle assessment insofar as Dayanidhi Maran or Kalanithi Maran are concerned. We are also not called upon to comment upon, nor have we, as to whether the allegations/charges against the said two individuals and Sun TV are well founded or unfounded. Those would be decided in criminal proceedings,” the Court said.

     

    Thus the limited extent of judicial review was whether the security assessment in respect of the Maran brothers was germane to the requirements of security clearance prescribed in Clause 3.8 of the NIA. Clause 3.8 stipulates the requirement of a security clearance of the “company” as well as all its “Directors on the Board.” Now, on plain reading, this would imply that the company, which has applied must be security cleared. Not only the corporate entity, which is distinct and separate in law, but also its directors as individuals, distinct from the corporate entity, have to be security cleared. At the same time, the clause does not, on plain reading, extend to shareholders of the applicant company.

     

    The Government had argued that if the shareholders are not roped in then it would amount to ascribing a very narrow meaning to Clause 3.8 of the NIA, which would defeat the very purpose of having a security clearance particularly in this very sensitive field of radio waves.

     

    “We are afraid we cannot agree with this submission. Dr Singhvi was right in submitting that the clause has serious ramifications extending far beyond the present e-auction. If security clearance were to be denied to a company, as has happened in the two cases before us, that would a blot on that company – a badge of dishonour – as Dr Singhvi put it. When such serious penal consequences are to follow then the provisions of Clause 3.8 would require a strict interpretation and if there were any doubt, an interpretation against the maker of the clause would have to be adopted,” the Court said.

     

    Furthermore, the Court said there was no allegation that the petitioner companies were created as a “camouflage to shield the persons exercising control over them from any liability. There is also no allegation that the petitioner companies themselves have indulged in any activities, which could raise security concerns. In fact, both the petitioner companies have been operating their licenses under Phases I and II since 2002-2003. Even when the cases against the Marans were registered in 2011, the petitioner companies have continued to operate their respective radio channels without any objection concerning security issues. As pointed out by Mr Sibal, both these companies got extensions of their licenses by six months as recently as on 31 March 2015. Even then, no security concerns were raised in respect of the two companies.”

     

    It was pointed out by Sibal that in respect of the various cases against the Marans, nobody has been convicted and in fact, the charge-sheet has been filed in only one of four cases.

  • FM Phase III permission holders to pay Rs 9000 per month to BECIL for monitoring

    FM Phase III permission holders to pay Rs 9000 per month to BECIL for monitoring

    NEW DELHI: The Government said that permission holders of the first batch of FM Radio Phase III will have to pay Rs 9000 per channel, per city, per month as monitoring charges continuously to the Broadcast Engineers Consultants (India) Ltd (BECIL).

     

    This will be subject to an escalation charge of five per cent per annum on monitoring charges.

     

    The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry also put on its website the format of the Project Management Agreement between the permission holder and BECIL.

     

    Under the agreement, BECIL will make all reasonable endeavours to complete each of the activities in respect of the building, installation, commissioning and completion of the common transmission infrastructure (CTI) to the satisfaction of the first party for delivery to the permission holder in accordance with the timeline set out, provided always that the legal and beneficial ownership and all right, title and interest to all and any parts of the licence holder’s share in the Common Transmission Infrastructure (at whatever stage of completion) and the Equipment shall at all times remain with the licence holder and BECIL will not have any right at law or in equity and at anytime to make any claim of title or create any lien, charge or other encumbrance whatsoever over all or any parts of the CTI or the equipment.

     

    The obligations of BECIL have been set out in a clause and will automatically conclude upon the commissioning of the CTI. For the avoidance of doubt, the performance of equipment installed at the site shall be the exclusive responsibility of the licence holder.

     

    In terms of the Phase III FM Radio Policy, successful bidders have to co-locate transmission facilities on existing All India Radio/Doordarshan (Prasar Bharati) towers or towers to be constructed by BECIL as the case may be and common facilities have to be integrated by BECIL.

     

    The licence holders have to enter into an agreement with Prasar Bharati whereby Prasar Bharati has agreed to make available land and tower aperture for the cities from where the permission holders are operating to build, install and operate the common facilities and other equipment of the FM radio broadcast facility.

  • Sun Group’s entry order in FM Phase III auctions expected on 22 July in Delhi & Chennai HC

    Sun Group’s entry order in FM Phase III auctions expected on 22 July in Delhi & Chennai HC

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today (21 July) asked counsel for the Union of India to get instructions on whether the auctions for FM Phase III will be postponed or whether the Sun Group will be permitted to take part.

     

    The Court adjourned the hearing of the main case and the application for stay to tomorrow to allow government counsel to get instructions. Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal presented the case for Sun Group.

     

    The Group has sought a stay on the order of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry in this regard. The Ministry had last week issued a list of 21 bidders, which did not include the Group’s Red FM, and then sent a formal communication to the Group on 15 July that it had been denied permission.

     

    In Chennai, the Madras High Court reserved its orders on the interim application for stay and is expected to pronounce its verdict tomorrow (22 July). 

     

    The Court has been asked to direct the Centre to permit Sun Group to migrate to the Phase-III regime by allowing it to resubmit the application dated 20 March, 2015 to participate in the auction.

     

    The petitions also said the company was not involved in any dispute with the nation’s security, nor had it broadcast anything that affected the security of the nation.

     

    The petition alleges that the order denying permission had been issued “carelessly, with total non-application of mind and in a cavalier fashion, totally unmindful of its consequences and repercussions not only on Sun TV but also on the entire broadcasting and media industry.”

     

    Apart from the denial to participate in Phase III FM auctions, the order also implied that the sister companies of the Sun Group would be compelled to close down FM radio stations, totalling 45 across the nation, the petitioners said.

     

    “Non-inclusion of the company’s name on the list is nothing but closing the entire FM stations run by it for extraneous, illegal and mala fide reasons,” the petitions said.

     

    It has pointed out that the Indian Telegraph Act does not make any mention of security clearance, and licence can be terminated or denied only if there is violation of the terms of the agreement including any defaults in payment.

     

    Clause 2.2(b) of the Information Memorandum and Clause 3.2(b) of the Notice Inviting Application says only a company controlled by a person convicted for an offence involving moral turpitude or money laundering or drug trafficking or terrorist activities or is declared as insolvent will not be eligible to apply. The petitioners said there was nothing in the rules to deny permission to the Sun Group, which is controlled by the Maran brothers.

  • FM phase III agreement formats with I&B and WPC released

    FM phase III agreement formats with I&B and WPC released

    NEW DELHI: Aiming to expedite the process for FM Radio Phase III, the Government has released the format of the Grant of Permission Agreement (GOPA) for FM Radio in Phase III and the agreement format for those migrating from Phase II.

     

    The Information and Broadcasting Ministry also placed on its website mib.nic.in the format of the undertaking to be given to the WPC Wing of the Telecom Ministry for frequency assignment.

     

    This undertaking makes it clear that the spectrum given to the FM operator will be provisional and will be surrendered in the event of the operator getting fresh spectrum after a permanent licence is issued through auction.

     

    The permission will be valid for a period of 15 years from the effective date and there will be no extension. The permission, unless cancelled or revoked earlier, will automatically lapse and expire at the end of 15 years. Additionally, the permission holder will thereafter have no rights to continue to operate the channel after the expiry date.

     

    The effective date of the permission period shall be reckoned from 1 April, 2015. The permission will be for free to air broadcasts on main carrier and data on sub-carriers.

     

    The agreement mentions that the permission holder shall not be competent to grant a sub–permission directly or indirectly. However, the permission holder may resort to outsourcing of content production as well as leasing of content development equipment as long as it does not impact the permission holder’s right as FM broadcaster and enjoys complete control over the channel. The permission holder will be fully responsible for any violations or omissions of the stipulated provisions with regard to the content.

    As per the agreement, the permission holder may hire or lease broadcasting equipments on long-term basis as long as it does not impact permission holder’s right as FM Radio broadcaster and enjoys complete control over the channel. However, the permission holder will be fully responsible for any violation of the stipulated technical parameters.

     

    The permission holder will not enter into any borrowing or lending arrangement with other permission holders or entities except recognised financial institutions and its related entities, which may restrict its management or creative discretion to procure or broadcast content or its marketing rights.

     

    It will be the responsibility of the permission holder to ensure that there is no linkage between a party from whom a programme is outsourced and an advertising agency.

     

    The holder will also have to ensure that no content, messages, advertisement or communication, transmitted in its broadcast channel is objectionable, obscene, unauthorised or inconsistent with the laws of India.

     

    The Government will have the right to temporarily suspend permission of the permission holder in public interest or for national security for such period or periods as it may direct. The company shall immediately comply with any directives issued in this regard failing which the permission issued shall be revoked and the company disqualified to hold any such permission in future for a period of five years.

     

    The total direct and indirect foreign investment including portfolio and foreign direct investments into the company has been capped at 26 per cent.

     

    In the event of the government announcing a new cross-media policy, the permission holder will have to conform to this within six months.

     

    The permission holder will follow the same programme and advertisement codes as followed by All India Radio (AIR) or any other applicable code, which the Central Government may prescribe from time to time.

     

    Additionally, the permission holder will be permitted to carry the news bulletins of AIR in the exact same format on such terms and conditions as may be mutually agreed with Prasar Bharati. No other news and current affairs programs have been permitted under the Phase III policy.

     

    The broadcast pertaining to the categories to be treated as non-news and current affairs broadcast and therefore permissible include information pertaining to sporting events, excluding live coverage. However live commentaries of sporting events of local nature may be permissible. Other coverage includes information pertaining to 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 etc. as provided by the local administration; and such other categories not permitted at present, that may subsequently be specifically permitted by the government.

  • Applicants to FM phase III permitted to withdraw if necessary via amendment in NIA

    Applicants to FM phase III permitted to withdraw if necessary via amendment in NIA

    NEW DELHI: Operators of FM radio who had applied for migration to phase III FM but changed their minds, will be given an opportunity to withdraw the option to migrate within five days of intimation of the Non-refundable One Time Migration Fee (NOTMF).

     

    This follows an amendment to the Notice Inviting Applications issued on 2 March.

     

    The amendment has been made at the specific request of Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) Secretary General Uday Chawla.

     

    The original paragraph seven reads: “The option so exercised shall be considered final and binding.”