New Delhi: A proposal is under consideration to impose annual licence fee on more than 12 crore radio receivers and 8.25 crore television owners all over the country, the government said on May 5.

Stating this in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad said there was proposal to turn Prasar Bharati television channels into pay channels.

On the Direct to Home (DTH) services, the Minister said three applications had been received for seeking permission to start such a service in the country adding these were under process.

The Minister said the letter of intents (LoI) would be issued as per procedure laid down the guidelines and after deposits of sum of Rs 10 crore by applicants.

On the Frequency Modulation (FM) stations, the Minister said on the basis of auction held in March 2000, 29 companies were selected for allocation of 101 channels in 40 cities of which 16 companies had submitted bank guarantees and till date 16 channels had become operational.

PTI