Govt considers allowing private FM radio to broadcast news: L Murugan

The government is engaged in discussions with various stakeholders to permit private FM radio channels to broadcast news bulletins alongside the services provided by All India Radio, as mentioned in a report by Business Standard.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, Dr. L Murugan spoke at a meeting on the FM Radio Auction, where he was joined by senior officials from the Ministry. The meeting was part of an outreach program organised by the Consultative Committee City Chambers of Commerce and Industry, which consists of six industry bodies from Chennai.

"Right now detailed conversations are going on around this (to allow private FM channels to run news bulletins). " "We will take a call after analysing all the inputs received from various stakeholders, including from the industry." said Murugan while addressing a question on allowing private FM channels to broadcast news.

Accompanied by the Ministry's Joint Secretary Sanjiv Shankar, Murugan stated that the Outreach Programme in Chennai aimed to encourage companies and interested parties to participate in the auction for 730 private FM radio channels. These channels will be launched in 234 cities across India, available in different price bands.

Joint Secretary Sanjiv Shankar said, ""We are in Chennai today in connection with the auction for private FM radio. We have already visited Pune and Mumbai and now, we are in Chennai and will be travelling to other cities interacting with industry chambers and interested parties in the radio industry seeking their support for this auction,"