Govt gives out 53 FM stations

The government today gave out 53 radio stations in 19 south Indian cities in the last round of private FM radio bidding today. The total number of stations which were put on bid was 64 and the government managed to earn Rs 177 crore as revenue.

Players which have bagged the majority of licences include the Sun Group, Anil Ambani's Adlabs, Times Group's Entertainment Network, Radio City, Synergy, Music Broadcast Pvt Ltd and HT Music.

With this, in the second phase of licensing (which had five rounds) in private FM radio, the government has managed to sell a total of 279 radio stations, of the 338 put on the block, with assured revenues of around Rs 1,100 cr.

The government, which sold licences in 91 cities (for 279 radio stations) across the country in the five rounds, is set to receive Rs 900 crore as one-time entry fee, while getting around Rs 227 crore as migration fee to be paid by existing operators to shift into the second phase.