Year: 2023

India’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has approved new rates for advertisements to be issued on private FM radio stations for its policies and programmes.The new rates, which have been announced after eight years, include a 43 per cent increase in the base rate taking in to account the rising costs dynamics for the period of December 2015 to March 2023. The move would benefit more than 400 community radio stations across the country.The pricing formula for finalising the advertising rates takes into account various factors such as city population and listenership data from the India Readership Survey (IRS) of 2019, said a statement issued by the Ministry.

With this increase, the Gross Base Rate for FM radio advertisement will increase from Rs 52 to Rs 74 per 10 seconds.  The adjustment is intended to maintain parity with current market rates. Based on this formula along with the enhanced base rate, almost all private FM radio stations will benefit from the new recommended rates at varying percentages depending largely on their listenership giving value for both FM stations and the clients of Central Bureau of Communication.Based on this formula the rates for 106 stations will increase by 100 percent, a 50 to 100 percent increase for 81 stations, and a less than 50 percent increase for 65 stations for which listenership data is available.The Rate Structure Committee for Private FM Radio Stations was set up by the Ministry last year to evaluate and recommend new rates which were last revised in 2015. The Committee submitted its recommendations after holdings several rounds of meetings with industry experts and stakeholders in addition to taking inputs from bodies like Association of Radio Operators of India. […]

Key DRM stakeholders in India, and other parts of Asia and the world, gathered virtually for a news-packed meeting on October 12, stressing once again the need for the Government to take a decision on the FM band digitisation. The 40 key participants represented the automotive industry, public and private Indian broadcasters, chipset, module and receiver manufacturers from India, China, UK and Germany; other important decision-makers interested in the success of digital radio DRM in India also took part.The event offered a unique opportunity to get the latest and important DRM news from Asia. They refer to the Indonesian government pronouncing DRM as the standard for Digital Radio Broadcasting in MW and FM bands, and in VHF Band III, China’s commitment to DRM and the recommendation for the automotive industry to include DRM AM receivers in cars, as well as the firm commitment to DRM in all bands and its rollout in Pakistan.The update on digital radio in India and the latest TRAI recommendations, as well as the extra services offered by DRM (like Emergency Warning Functionality) and the new revenue possibilities opened up by DRM were at the heart of the presentation.

The new DRM1000 module of CML Micro/Cambridge Consultants, its integration into new Gospell receivers, the developments announced by the Indian company, Inntot, and the global perspective brought by NXP (NXP) rounded up a strong event. This underlined the growing strength of digital radio (in the AM and FM bands), the continued investments in DRM and the need for completing the Indian DRM roll-out.The conclusion of the meeting was that the Indian government needs to take a clear decision on digitising the FM bands. There was also the suggestion made to the government to add to the recent cell phone recommendation (to include FM) that of adding DRM and EWF requirement. At the end of the meeting the Indian and other major DRM stakeholders committed once again their support and readiness to get involved in the full DRM roll-out in India. […]