Private FM radio hopefuls bid aggressively for frequencies in cities categorised as A and A+, fetching the govt a one-time entry fee of over Rs 500 crore.
NEW DELHI: Private FM radio hopefuls bid aggressively at Friday’s auction of frequencies in cities categorised as A and A+, fetching the government a tidy one-time entry fee of over Rs 500 crore. Companies bid a total of Rs 675 crore for acquiring radio stations in these cities, which include all the major metros and mini-metros, including Mumbai.
Sixty-four frequencies/radio stations across 13 cities were auctioned on day one of the financial bidding process. The remaining 274 frequencies, out of a total of 338, in other cities and towns will be open for bidding over the next four weeks.
The most aggressive bidders in the A and A+ cities were HT Music, Anil Ambani’s Adlabs, the Times group’s Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL), and Radio Mid-Day. While HT Media’s Rs 35 crore bid for Mumbai was the highest in this round, ENIL managed to get all seven stations that it wanted.
Its highest bid was for Bangalore, at Rs 21 crore. Radio Mid-Day also showed strength by bagging six stations. It bid as high as Rs 31.4 crore for a Delhi station. Recently, British Broadcasting Corporation picked up a little less than 20 % in Radio Mid-Day.
Although Adlabs was expected to bid extremely aggressively, experts pointed out that it has demonstrated calculated logic while bidding. Adlabs’ highest bid was Rs 28 crore for both Delhi and Mumbai. For the other five stations that it has got, the bids are much lower. As one of the bidders pointed out, “the gap between the highest and lowest bids in most centres is quite huge”. Many FM radio hopefuls have not been able to make intelligent bids “as they have not understood the radio business,” he added..
Synergy Media (Dainik Bhaskar group) has bagged four stations in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Nagpur and Surat, all publication centres for the Bhaskar group, which is one of the promoters of DNA. Synergy had bid for eight stations.
Pan India (Zee group, another promoter of DNA) failed to get any station in A and A + cities. It was disqualified in all the five centres it had bid for as the amount it quoted was less than 25 % of the highest bid in those cities. This is as per the norms set for FM radio tenders.
Another media group, Dainik Jagran, lost out in both the centres (Lucknow and Kanpur) it had bid for. Lucknow and Kanpur are key publication centres for Jagran.
Chennai-headquartered South Asia FM, which is learnt to be a partnership with Malaysia’s Astro, emerged as a star on day one of bidding. It has bagged seven stations across Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Surat, Pune, Nagpur, Lucknow and Kanpur. It had bid for seven and got all of them. Astro is already in a joint venture with NDTV and an IT company from Hyderabad for acquiring Living Media’s Red FM.
Big print media companies from the south did not make any major bid. But, the Kolkata-based Ananda Bazar group has managed to get a station in the city for a bid amount of Rs 5 crore.
In the first round of FM privatisation, the government had notched up only Rs 85 crore as the first year’s licence fees from 22 stations. One of the licensees shut shop, and the remaining 21 are operational. While FM-1 was a fixed licence fee regime, FM-2 will see a shift to revenue-sharing arrangement (at 4 %) with the government.
Successful bidders will be able to start their FM operations with an entry fee equivalent to their respective bid amounts. From next year onwards, they’ll pay a revenue-share of 4 % to the government.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}