Apex Court throws out FM slots case

NEW DELHI, June 29: The curtain fell on one of the most convoluted media battles in the country when the Supreme Court upheld Prasar Bharati...

NEW DELHI, June 29: The curtain fell on one of the most convoluted media battles in the country when the Supreme Court upheld Prasar Bharati’s decision to auction the FM slots on All India Radio. It dismissed petitions from Bennett Coleman, publishers of The Times of India and the holding company of Times FM, and Star Entertainment, seeking renewal of their time slots.

But Prasar Bharati Chief Excutive Officer S S Gill said it did not automatically mean that All India Radio would open the tenders which it had received from private broadcasters. “We may just decide to continue operating the FM slots ourselves. We’re doing a fine job of it,” said Gill.

While Times FM CEO Arun Arora declined to comment on the rejection of their special leave petition by the Supreme Court, Executive Director of Living Media, G Krishnan, urged Prasar Bharati to open the tenders and proceed with the process of privatisation. Living Media is one the parties that has bid for the FM slots.

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A Vacation Bench comprising JusticesM Jaagannadha Rao and S Rajendra Babu dismissed the petitions challenging the Delhi High Court order. Earlier, the High Court had dismissed the petitions of Bennett Coleman and Star Entertainment saying the Prasar Bharati decision was in the public interest.

Bennett Coleman counsel P P Rao submitted that the tenders for auction could not be opened as the MRTP Commission had stayed the move and in the absence of any interim arrangement, the Government stood to lose a large amount. But Arora said he did not know whether the withdrawal of the four cases in the MRTP Commission (with which Bennett Coleman is connected) would alter Prasar Bharati’s determination to operate the FM slots.