India to monitor content broadcast on FM radio stations

Indian government is planning to set up a facility that will monitor the programme content broadcast on FM Radio stations.

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Uday Kumar Varma said there was a need to monitor radio content as nearly 800 more FM channels are likely to come up in the next couple of years.

Speaking at the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) in New Delhi, he said, "The whole world of monitoring of radio content is still to be handled and addressed in a meaningful manner. We do have a mechanism but I think we need to keep that mechanism evolving. With 800 plus FM channels expected to come in next one to three years, there will be quite a handful that will need to be addressed".

He said private channels in the coming days would get permission to broadcast news which makes the need to monitor content even more pertinent. "They will begin with All India Radio news, but they may be allowed to generate and broadcast local news and that would have several manifestations which will need to be monitored," Varma said.

(Source : Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)