In a windfall of sorts, the government has received bids worth Rs 1,156.9 crore for 97 channels in 56 cities in the e-auction of the first batch of private FM Radio Phase 3 channel. The aggregate reserve price for these channels is Rs 459.8 crore. The e-auction ended today after 125 rounds of bidding.
The e-auction for 135 channels in 69 cities had commenced on July 27. Cities like Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar and Jodhpur witnessed robust bidding activity with the provisionally winning bid being as high as 800 percent over reserve price for their channels. Overall, 18 cities got provisionally winning bids for their channels at prices more than double the respective reserve prices, the Information & Broadcasting ministry stated.