This has come as a major component of the regulator’s recommendations on the “Third Phase of Private FM Radio Broadcasting”, which were forwarded to the government on Friday.
Earlier, TRAI consultation paper on the third phase of FM radio expansion issued last month too had the issue of news of private FM radio as a point of discussion.
Apart from the categories mentioned, the regulator said, “no other source of news is permitted at present” to be used for news on private FM radio.
Explaining the reasons behind the recommendation, TRAI said, “One of the barriers for further growth identified by the Authority during the consultation process relates to the restriction of existing guidelines that do not permit news and current affairs on FM Radio broadcast.
“Information requirements of large section of unserved population and those who lack access to information through other means like internet, television services, etc., can be conveniently met without any cost to the receiving population only through FM Radio services.”
Licensing change
In another recommendation that will have far-reaching impact of expansion of FM radio, TRAI said the geographical basis for private FM radio bidding in future should be changed from city level to district level.
This means that the channels available in a district would be auctioned to the eligible bidders and allocated to successful bidders in descending order of the bid price.
Existing operators and licensees would be given the option to enlarge the area of operation for the same channel to provide coverage to full district after fulfilling certain conditions, according to the recommendations.
The bidding for remaining 97 channels of Phase-II of expansion would also be enlarged in scope from the city as operational area to the relevant district as operational area to avoid complication of subsequent migration from city to district level.
FDI cap
TRAI further recommended tha the FDI cap, including FII, for FM radio broadcasting permission holders who are interested to broadcast news, should be enhanced to 26 per cent from the present 20 per cent, while for those who do not opt for news broadcasting, it should be enhanced to 49 per cent.