MUMBAI: In what has come as eyeballs grabbing news, Reliance Communication (RCom) Chairman Anil Ambani might sell Reliance Broadcast Network (RBN) that owns BIG FM to Jagran Prakashan for 1200 crore rupees. The announcement might be made today as revealed by Financial Times. While this deal might help the younger Ambani to pay his debts, popular Indian radio station, Radio City will emerge luckiest in this transaction.
Well, MBL (Music Broadcast Limited), which is a subsidiary of Jagran Prakashan, owns Radio City. And as per the information quoted in Financial Times, RBN and MBL (Music Broadcast Limited) have come to an agreement that MBL will initially buy 24 per cent stake in RBN. This initial part of deal doesn’t require approval as per government rules, which states – a radio company cannot sell the majority stake in a new license for three years. While the lock-in period of 45 BIG FM radio stations expired on 31 March 2018, the tenure of its remaining 14 stations will expire in March 2020.
MBL currently owns 39 radio stations under the brand – Radio City. But, after this deal becomes live, RBN will initially transfer charge of 45 BIG FM stations to MBL. The remaining 14 will be handed over in 2020 only after their lock-in period gets over in March 2020. This will therefore make Radio City the biggest private FM network in India.
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On trying to reach both radio stations, nobody was available to comment on this development. We will therefore have to wait until the announcement of one of the biggest sales from the world of radio happens anytime today. Stay tuned to Radioandmusic for more updates.
