The Hindu : Business : Sun, Adlabs key FM players

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Saturday, Jan 21, 2006

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Sun, Adlabs key FM players

Special Correspondent

Patna witnesses highest bids; Radio Mirchi picks up centre

NEW DELHI: With the third round of bidding for frequencies in the second phase of FM broadcasting wrapped up, the total earnings from the process inched to Rs. 642 crore with Friday's exercise raking in Rs. 20.70 crore. On Friday, 48 frequencies across 17 cities in the Eastern part of India were allotted, taking the total of frequencies spoken for in this phase to 166.

Sun Group's South Asia FM Pvt. Ltd. and Reliance Entertainment's Adlabs Films Ltd. were the main players in this round, bidding for a frequency in all 17 cities and picking up 15 each. While both lost out in Patna, Adlabs was out-bid in Siliguri as was South Asia FM in Ranchi.

Patna witnessed the highest bids but only one of the four frequencies up for grabs was allotted as all the other four bidders quoted amounts that were less than 25 per cent of the highest bidder Entertainment Network (India) Ltd. of the Radio Mirchi fame, which picked up a station for Rs. 5.13 crore.

Bihar's capital city attracted three of the five bids in this round that crossed the Rs. 1 crore mark, the other two being Asansol and Jamshedpur. South Asia topped the chart in Asansol with a bid amount of Rs. 1.94 crore and Adlabs led the race in Jamshedpur by quoting Rs. 1.21 crore. In all, 66 frequencies were on offer. The response was particularly lukewarm in eight cities — Imphal, Muzzafarpur, Port Blair, Kohima, Shillong, Itanagar, Aizwal and Agartala — where the number of bidders was less than the number of frequencies available. A total of 336 frequencies across 90 cities have been made available by the Government for FM-II.

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