New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) The Union Cabinet has approvedauctioning of more than 680 FM channels in 236 cities,including those in border areas of Jammu and Kashmir, fromwhich it expects to raise Rs 1,100 crore, according to anofficial statement today.
Batch-I and Batch-II auctions of private FM radiochannels under Phase-III of the FM Policy Guidelines wereheld in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
A total of 97 channels in 56 cities were sold in Batch-I,while 66 channels in 48 cities were sold in Batch-II.
"Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modihas approved the way for conducting the auction of 683channels in 236 cities in subsequent batches," the statementsaid.
The meeting was held yesterday but the decision was madepublic today.
With the rollout of the third batch auctions, thosecities will be benefited where there are no private FM radiochannels. They include several cities in border areas of Jammuand Kashmir and the northeast, where the population is lessthan one lakh, the statement said.
Besides, this batch of auction will also cover cities indistricts badly affected by Left Wing Extremism, it said.
With the complete rollout of FM Phase-III auctions, allthe 29 states and six out of the seven union territories -except Dadra & Nagar Haveli - will be covered by private FMradio broadcasting, it said.
"This is also likely to generate direct and indirectemployment to more than 10,000 persons on a pan-India basis.
These auctions will yield an estimated revenue of more than Rs1,100 crore," it added. PTI MPABH.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.