Friday, July 08, 2011

AIR news bulletins allowed on private FM stations

The decision to allow news and information broadcasts on private FM stations was approved by India’s Union Cabinet on Thursday, as part of the Phase III policy guidelines which also extend FM radio services to 227 new cities. The decision means private FM stations will be permitted to carry unedited news bulletins from All India Radio.

Private channels will still be forbidden from airing their own news bulletins, but the Information and Broadcasting Minister hinted that this could change in the future. “Gradually, we are allowing news in the private radio stations and let’s see how it goes forward,” she told reporters after the Cabinet meeting, according to PTI.

Local information – including traffic, weather, sports and cultural events, examinations, admissions and career counselling, as well as public announcements by the local administration – will be treated as non-news, and therefore free to air on private channels.

The Cabinet also decided to increase the foreign investment limit in private FM radio firms to 26 per cent from the current rate of 20 per cent. Several incentives have been provided to encourage bidding for licences in Jammu and Kasmir, North Eastern states and the island territories.

(Source: The Hindu via Media Network Weblog)

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