[icernet] More The Merrier, Say Private FM Players

[Arul Selvan]

  Although the government is not keen on restructuring the licence fee 
model in the first phase of FM radio privatisation as it would be 
illegal to make changes at this point, the licencees have made a 
detailed presentation to the information and broadcasting ministry 
putting forward their side of the story. Interestingly, FM licencees 
have pointed out that even as the government is talking of legalities, 
the licence conditions have already been violated.

According to an FM radio player, only when the number of players 
increases can the business grow. The same holds true for the advertising 
pie. Compare with TV broadcasting, says an official at this company. 
When Doordarshan was the lone player, the ad pie in TV broadcasting was 
just 15 per cent. That’s the figure of 1992. In 2002, the same grew to 
38 per cent of the total, ‘on the back of multiple channels’, the 
presentation states. The total advertising-spend across various media 
stands at around Rs 8,000 crore, and TV ad pie is around Rs 3000 crore. 
According to the presentation, radio advertising is just about 1.5 per 
cent of the total pie, as of now. Even as Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata 
stations are yet to come up, FM players say that radio advertising would 
not reach anywhere near the expected 5 per cent of the total ad-spend in 
large cities.

Source:
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=31749