FM-III may say what’s not news

After years of ambiguity over what constitutes news and what does not, the government is likely to clarify its stand on the matter in its upcoming policy on expansion of private FM radio in Phase-III.

It is learnt that the Union Cabinet would consider the new FM radio policy in January 2010.
The auction process for allotment of radio stations in Phase III will, however, be conducted in the second part of the 2010 calendar year.

Sporting events, weather, and traffic would not be treated as news on private FM radio, sources pointed out.

So, FM stations would not have to bank on state-run All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD) for broadcasting programmes related to sports, weather and traffic, and can generate content on their own in these segments.

Some more categories may also be added to this list, a source said.

In a slow opening up of the news and current affairs category, private FM channels would be allowed to carry All India Radio bulletins or the audio version of DD news, to begin with.

The draft note on FM-III policy, which was prepared by the information and broadcasting ministry recently, will be taken to the Cabinet once the process of inter-ministerial consultation is concluded.

Many ministries and government departments including home affairs, finance, planning commission  and HRD have been consulted for firming up the radio policy. The HRD ministry was late in giving its input over issues related to copyright and intellectual property rights, a source pointed out.

The I&B ministry is believed to have sought an increase in the foreign investment limit in FM radio broadcasting to 26%, from the current 20%.

Although at the national level there will be a limit of 15% on the number of channels that an entity can own, some states are likely to be exempted from this.
For instance, an entity can have radio channels in Jammu & Kashmir and north-east over and above the 15% national cap.

To encourage operators in J&K and North-East, the government wants them to pay 50% of the annual licence fee that others would pay, for a period of three years.
Within a city, no private operator can own more than 40% of the total number of channels, subject to at least three operators there.

The FM-III policy is also expected to touch upon the issue of co-location of transmission facilities.

Even as co-location of FM stations’ transmission facility on Prasar Bharati infrastructure has been mandatory till now, private operators would be allowed to make their own arrangements in some of the Phase-III cities.

The reason for the exemption is that Prasar Bharati infrastructure is not available in many of the Phase III cities.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had given its recommendations on FM-phase III in April 2008.

Following that, the I&B ministry has had series of meetings to formulate a draft policy.
Currently, there are 172 FM radio channels of All India Radio and 251 private FM channels in the country.