NEW DELHI: With 44 cities still unable to attract bidders for FM Phase III channels, even the bid for the only silver lining -  Muzaffarpur – appeared to slow down although it showed an increasing over the bid on 9 December, rising to Rs 4,35,31,244.from Rs 4,10,47,850 but for the first time remaining below the clock round price of Rs 4,39,66,556.

Muzaffarpur had risen to Rs 3,37,70,170 on 5 December before the short break on account of the demise of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha. Muzaffarpur has been rising from Rs 1,88,04,498 over the past fortnight..

Hyderabad and Dehradun are still at top with Rs 23,43,48,266 and Rs 15,61,00,590 respectively on the 26th day with the completion of three rounds taking the total to 100.

The fourteen bidding companies will have open their opurses wider to be successful in bagging any more channels. M/s South Asia FM Ltd has been declared as the winning bidder for five Radio FM channels, just a day after the commencement of the auction for the second batch of Phase III. The company will be allotted FM Channels in Surat, Amritsar, Patna, Chandigarh and Jammu.

Other than Hyderabad and Dehradun, the top sixteen cities remained static with bids of more than Rs 32 million. The bids at Alappuzha (Alleppey), Erode, Hubli-Dharwad, Nellore, Salem, Vellore and Vijaywada remained at just over Rs 70 million while bids for Tiruchy was just above Rs 50 million and Tirupathi, Puducherry and Muzaffarpur to a little over Rs 40 million. Amravati, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Ujjain bid a little over Rs 35 million and Mysuru a little over Rs 32 million.

The first day of auction on 26 October saw a winning price of Rs 1820 milion against the aggregate price of Rs 1792 million, while the second day onwards the bidding has been low.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told radioandmusic.com that the aim was to continue till all the channels slated in the second batch were auctioned, but breaks will have to be taken for weekends and national holidays.

This data has been compiled on the basis of system generated “Final Round Result Report” and “Frequency Identification Report” accessible through auction administrator role.

Also Read: South Asia FM bags five channels in first round of the second batch of FM Batch III

FM Phase III: E-auction at virtual standstill even as Muzaffarpur rises to more than Rs 40 million