By IANS,
New Delhi : Private radio channels may be allowed to broadcast news sourced from news agencies in phase III of FM radio, expected to start towards end of the year.
“The issue is under active consideration. The modalities will have to be discussed,” a source in the information and broadcasting ministry said Saturday.
The source said phase III of FM radio will be started after resolving issues relating to royalty for music with those operators which bid for phase II.
No decision on news broadcast on FM channels has been taken, the source said.
The radio operators have been demanding for long that they be allowed to broadcast news.
If the ministry clears the proposal, the FM stations can source their news broadcasts from news bulletins of Doordarshan and All India Radio that use news from authorised news agencies besides generating their own news from their network of correspondents.
There are around 100 FM radio channels in the country and a number of private companies have applied for a licence to launch new channels.