‘No-bid contract’ for Rs 2,500 crore for TV, film and digital channels

The Government of India on Monday announced that the broadcasting license for digital channels will be sold at Rs 2.50 crore for each of the channels.

The government will issue licences for the acquisition of spectrum from the telecom companies, said a statement.

These licences will allow the government to acquire a larger chunk of spectrum in the digital space, which will allow it to increase its reach to consumers and increase its capacity for the digital distribution of content.

“This will enable the government, in the long run, to expand its reach in the Indian market and to ensure that all segments of the population can benefit from digital channels,” said a senior government official.

In the first round, the government had acquired spectrum from Bell, Telecom, Tata Communications and Videocon.

The licenses for digital content will be awarded for three years.

The digital channels, which have already started broadcasting and will be launched with a television broadcast in April 2019, are the largest such digital channels in the country.

They have an audience of about 1.4 billion.