97 channels in 56 cities become provisional winning channels

At the close of the 31st day of bidding for e-auction of private radio FM Phase III expansion, 97 channels in 56 cities became provisional winning channels.
In a statement released here, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said these channels emerged winners with a cumulative provisional winning price of about Rs 1156.9 crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 459.8 crore.
"Thereby the summation of provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the corresponding 97 channels by Rs 697.05 crore or 151.58 per cent," it said.
Officials added that overall, cumulative provisional winning price exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch i.E. Rs 550.18 crore by Rs 606.72 crore or 110.27 per cent.

The auction for the first batch comprising 135 FM channels in 69 existing cities of Phase II began on July 27. Till now, 124 rounds of bidding are over.
The channel allocation stage will continue till the bids are received for any of the 135 channels, the statement said.