The Indian government is planning to set up a regulatory authority for the private radio industry, including FM as well as satellite radio, by the end of this year, officials of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) said. However, it remained to be seen if the body would be formed by an act of parliament, or report to the I&B Ministry as a separate department, an official said, reports India’s Business Standard.
Currently, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is the only independent regulator looking at issues pertaining to both telecommunications as well as the broadcasting sector. The proposed broadcasting bill talks about setting up a broadcast regulator by an act of parliament, but does not mention a radio regulator.
By September, there will be about 280 private FM stations on the air and the process for bidding another 400 frequencies will begin under the third phase of the opening up of the sector. Welcoming the move, Association of Radio Operators in India (AROI) President Rajiv Mishra said: “An independent radio regulator on the lines of such bodies in the US and other developed countries is the need of the industry. We see the radio sector becoming an industry with an annual turnover of Rs10,000 crore (US$2.4 billion) in the next six to eight years and a regulator will take away a lot of problems of the I&B Ministry.”
(Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)