I&B Ministry
Day 22: Hope for more FM Phase III bids lie with under-Rs 10 crore cities
NEW DELHI: With no takers for thirteen cities, the hope for more bids shifted to cities, which have so far managed less than Rs 10 crore on the twenty-second day in the e-auction for the first batch of FM Phase III cities even as the cumulative provisional winning price showed a marginal rise to Rs 1136.6 crore at the end of the 88th round.
The number of provisional winning channels and cities remained the same as yesterday: 94 channels in 56 cities, but the total bids surpassed the cumulative reserve price by Rs 677.7 crore or 147.7 per cent against the aggregate reserve price of about Rs 459 crore.
The cumulative provisional winning price has thus risen over the total reserve price of the first batch of 135 FM channels in 69 existing cities – Rs 550.18 crore – by Rs 586.4 crore or 106.5 per cent. Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told Indiantelevision.com today that the cumulative winning price is exclusive of the migration fee, which will take the total revenue even higher.
The Auction Activity Requirement rose to 100 per cent after the 59th round on 14 August, after being 90 per cent after the 37th round on 7 August.
Sources said that in the notice inviting auction, it was clear that the e-auction will continue as long as bids are received for any of the 135 channels. This included the 13 cities for which no bids have come namely Asansol, Gulbarga, Mangalore, Mysore, Puducherry, Rajahmundry, Siliguri, Tiruchy, Tirunveli, Tirupati, Tuticorin, Vijaywada and Warangal.
The winning price has gone up by more than 100 per cent above their respective reserve prices: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Nasik, Patna, Pune, Rourkela and Varanasi, which got provisional winning bidders at prices more than double the respective reserve prices. A single channel in Bhubaneshwar created a new record by getting the most competitive bidding increment-wise by going up nine times the reserve price.
The demand in most cities fell by up to three per cent and by four per cent below the excess demand at the price in the 88th round in Hyderabad.
The Percentage Price Increment applicable for the Next Clock Round rose to five each in Jodhpur and Varanasi but was just one in Gauhati. There was no change in the other cities.
The provisional winning price in the top three cities reflected no change: Delhi at Rs 169.16 crore (for just one channel); Mumbai at Rs 122.81 crore (for two channels); and Bengaluru at Rs 109.25 crore.
Kohlapur, which appeared to be the next to enter the Rs 10-crore club remained static for the third day with Rs 9.44 crore though cities like Kanpur, Rajkot, Amritsar and Aurangabad do not seem to be far behind.
Chennai at Rs 53.38 crore, Ahmedabad at Rs 42.68 crore, Pune at Rs 42.03 crore, Jaipur at Rs 28.34 crore, Chandigarh at Rs 19.04 crore, Hyderabad at Rs 18 crore, Patna at Rs 17.89 crore, Cochin at Rs 15.04 crore and Lucknow at Rs 14 crore remained static.
I&B Ministry
AIDCF moves TDSAT over Waves plan to stream linear TV channels
Industry body flags regulatory gap as OTT push sparks broadcast turf war
NEW DELHI: The battle between traditional television distributors and digital platforms has found its way to the courts, with the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) moving the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against Prasar Bharati’s latest OTT play.
At the heart of the dispute is Waves, Prasar Bharati’s OTT platform, which has invited applications to onboard linear satellite TV channels. Aidcf, which represents multi-system operators (msos), argues that this move sidesteps existing broadcasting rules and risks tilting the playing field in favour of digital platforms.
The federation’s petition hinges on a key provision in the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines, 2022. Clause 11(3)(f) allows broadcasters to downlink channels only if they provide signal decoders to recognised distribution platforms such as MSOS, DTH operators, hits operators and iptv platforms. OTT platforms, aidcf points out, do not feature on that list.
In simple terms, AIDCF’s argument is this: if OTT platforms are not officially recognised distributors, they should not be receiving broadcast signals in the first place. By inviting channels onto Waves, the federation claims, Prasar Bharati is opening a backdoor that lets broadcasters bypass long-standing rules.
The concern goes beyond legal interpretation. Aidcf says OTT platforms currently operate without a clear regulatory framework, allowing them to expand into traditional broadcasting territory without the compliance burden that cable and satellite operators must carry. That, it argues, creates an uneven contest.
There is also a warning for broadcasters. If they provide signal decoders to an OTT platform like Waves, they could risk breaching the very conditions under which their downlinking permissions were granted.
For its part, Prasar Bharati’s Waves initiative is positioned as a step towards wider access and digital reach, bringing linear television into the streaming era. But critics say the move blurs the line between regulated broadcasting and largely unregulated streaming.
The matter is expected to come up before tdsat next week. The outcome could do more than settle a single dispute. It may help define how India regulates the fast-merging worlds of television and OTT, where the lines are getting fuzzier by the day and the stakes, sharper than ever.
