New Delhi, Sep 23 : In a major move that could change the face of private FM radio in India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday recommended that private FM radio operators be allowed to broadcast news and current affairs programmes for up to 10 minutes in every clock hour.

The regulator said the news content must follow the programme code prescribed by the central government.

'Private FM Radio operators should be allowed to broadcast news and current affairs programmes, limited to 10 minutes in each clock hour,' the telecom regulatory body said.

It also proposed that authorised FM operators be permitted to stream their radio programmes online at the same time, but without user-controlled features like download, playback or replay.

'The authorised entity shall follow the programme code for news content as prescribed by the Central Government from time to time,' it added.

The recommendations were part of TRAI's detailed report on 'Reserve Prices for auction of FM Radio channels,' prepared after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) sought guidance on setting reserve prices for FM auctions in several cities.

After issuing a consultation paper in August 2024 and holding an open house discussion in October, TRAI finalised its recommendations.

It suggested that the reserve price for auction should be set at Rs 0.83 crore for Bilaspur, Rs 1.20 crore for Rourkela and Rs 0.97 crore for Rudrapur.

'For category 'E' cities in hill states and border regions, the reserve price should be Rs 3.75 lakh,' TRAI added.

The regulator also recommended that FM operators in category 'E' cities should have a minimum net worth of Rs 30 lakh, while existing net worth rules for other categories of cities should continue.

For these smaller cities, the annual authorisation fee should be 2 per cent of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) for the first three years and then 4 per cent thereafter. AGR, TRAI clarified, will be calculated after excluding GST from gross revenue.

To support the financial health of FM radio operators, TRAI suggested delinking the annual licence fee from the one-time entry fee, offering more flexible payment options similar to spectrum auctions.

It also proposed that Prasar Bharati share its land, towers and transmission infrastructure with private broadcasters at concessional rentals, while fully recovering operational costs.

/IANS