HT Media, Entertainment Networks India Ltd, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd, Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co, Rajasthan Patrika, Music Broadcast Ltd and Sun TV Group were among the key participants in the first batch of private FM radio auctions, on Monday.
The government allowed 26 bidders to participate in the third phase of the auctions. At the end of Day 1, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said the cumulative winning provisional price of bids stood at ₹395 crore for 78 radio channels in 54 cities.
The aggregate reserve price for these channels was about ₹375 crore and four rounds of bidding were completed on the first day.
The bidding will continue on Tuesday. In the first batch of Phase III, the government has put a total of 135 channels in 69 cities up for auction. From the first batch alone the government expects to earn ₹550 crore.
The fourth round of the day also saw excess demand in cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, and Jodhpur.
The bidding began with the auction activity requirement set at 80 per cent. The ongoing auction is a Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) e-auction where the bids keep rising till supply matches demand.
The auctions had their share of controversy with one of the key players, Sun TV, initially being debarred from participating over security concerns. The Group had to take legal recourse.