COMMITTEE FOR RADIO BROADCASTING
PHASE-II CONSTITUTED
The Government has
constituted a Committee to make recommendations for Radio Broadcasting
for Phase-II. The Committee will submit its report by 30th
September, 2003.
The terms of reference
of the Committee will, inter-alia, include: - i) Determining a
transparent and effective bidding/auction process to be adopted
for allotment of frequencies. ii) Assessment of a viable licencee
fee structure for the various cities (one time entry fee, fixed
licence fees, revenue sharing etc.) to be based on clearly defined
parameters. iii) Suggestions regarding extent of foreign equity
participation in private FM in order to make them economically
more viable/sustainable while also keeping in mind regimes in
other sectors and requirements of national security. iv) Study
the desirability and legal implications of making modifications
in licensing regime of Phase-I licencees should a different licensing
regime be proposed for Phase-II. v) Suggestions for improvement
in content being broadcast and considering the inclusion of news.
vi) Examining the possibility of having non-commercial, non-advertisement
driven channels, to be operated/licenced by the same commercial
broadcasters; terms & conditions thereof; consideration of
whether type of content of these channels could include subjects
related to the heritage and culture of India. vii) Recommendations
for a code of conduct in programming matters and method of strict
enforcement for violations thereof. viii) Assessment of whether
colocation is necessary and desirable and if found otherwise,
approach to be adopted in the metros, where colocated set ups
involving huge investments stands operationalised. ix) Determining
the legal implications of the regime which may be proposed vis-à-vis
the existing one. x) Formulating draft bidding documents and contract/licence
agreement. xi) Other matters as may be referred to the Committee
from time to time.
Shri Amit Mitra (FICCI)
will be the Chairperson of the ten-member Committee. Other members
are; S/Shri Dilip Chennoy (CII), Kiran Karnik (NASCOM), Ameen
Sayani (Radio Personality), P.K.Garg, Wireless Advisor (WPC),
K.M.Paul, E-in-C (AIR), KRP Verma, CMD (BECIL), Shardul Shroff
(Amirchand Mangal Das), Ms. Noreen Naqvi, DDG (Prog) (AIR) and
Ms. Mahua Pal, Director (Ministry of I&B).
