NEW DELHI: All successful bidders for the 91 FM Radio channels in 54 cities that were announced yesterday in the first stage have been asked to pay the bid deposit - 25 per cent of the bid amount - by 21 September. The balance will have to be paid by 1 October. 

Both amounts have to be paid by demand draft in the name of the Pay and Accounts Officer, Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

At the same time, the Ministry warned that if the bid deposit is not received by the due date, the earnest money deposit (EMD) will be forfeited, and if the balance is not received by 1 October, the bid deposit and EMD will be forfeited.

The Ministry also made it clear that this was without prejudice to any other action that it may take against defaulters.  

While placing the results of 91 channels in fifty-four cities on the website of the Ministry, the frequency allocated and the successful bid amount was also stated.

The Ministry said the results do not include the results of the bids by Sun TV, South Asia FM and Kal Radio in compliance with the orders of the Madras High Court.

It also said the Centre had decided to file a special leave to appeal in the Supreme Court against the order of 26 July of the Delhi High Court of Delhi in the petitions by Digital Radio (Mumbai) Broadcasting Ltd. & Digital Radio (Delhi) Broadcasting Ltd. respectively.

Even as the government withheld six results because of legal cases, Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL) emerged the largest gainer with 17 channels in its kitty. 

Rajasthan Patrika Pvt Ltd, Reliance Broadcast Network and DB Corp Ltd got 14 channels each. Meanwhile, Music Broadcast Pvt Ltd has got 11 channels and HT Media has 10 channels. Digital Radio (Delhi) Broadcasting Ltd and Abhijeet Realtors and Infraventures Pvt Ltd got two channels each.

Others who have successful bid and got one channel each are Digital Radio (Mumbai) Broadcasting Pvt Ltd, Renderlive Films and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Sarthak Films Pvt Ltd, Abir Buildcon Pvt Ltd, Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co Pvt Ltd and Odisha Television Ltd.

The auction was stopped on the 33rd day after just one round, with 97 channels in 56 cities became provisional winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price of about Rs 1156.9 crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 459.8 crore.