The government on Friday said 175 additional radio stations would be operational across the country by the end of the current year.
Among these, eleven would be All India Radio stations and 164 would be private FM radio channels, Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi informed Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question.
Out of 175 new radio channels, 27 would come up in Maharashtra, 17 in Kerala, 14 in Tamil Nadu, 12 in Rajasthan and 10 each in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, the minister said.
A new policy of expansion of FM broadcasting through private operators was notified in July, 2005 after which 337 channels were put on bid. Of these, the government signed agreements with successful bidders for 139 channels in 57 cities.
Pre-qualification bids have been invited from private players for rest of the channels in June this year, the minister said.
In reply to another query, Dasmunsi said 31 channels have been permitted to be uplinked from the country till July 31 and applications of 59 companies to uplink 99 TV channels have been under various stages of scrutiny.
He said no definite timeframe can be indicated for this as uplinking of channels also requires inter-ministerial comments.
To another question, Dasmunsi said Doordarshan transmission is not affected by foreign TV signals although Chinese TV signals are received in some areas of Arunachal Pradesh during favourable seasonal conditions.
Similarly, Chinese radio channels are audible on different frequencies in Arunachal Pradesh but coverage of AIR transmitters has not been affected in the state.
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