[icernet] Media groups battle for Indian ears

[Arul Selvan]

  Powerful media groups that have launched a string of private radio 
stations for a bigger bite of India's market are racing to grab 
listeners' ears in the national capital of 14 million. Eleven players 
jumped on the bandwagon in July 1999, when India opened its skies to FM 
signals, but only four remain serious players as stiff licence fees and 
a ban on news broadcasts throttled the foetal private radio industry.

Rupert Murdoch's Star and local media conglomerates Bennet & Coleman, 
India Today and Midday say they will not give up in their hot pursuit 
for the 1 percent slice of India's 80 billion rupee (R616 million) 
adspending pie. The airwaves battle has jarred All India Radio (Air) to 
rename its Delhi-based FM stations, but analysts say the national 
broadcaster has lost the war for the ether before it even began. Private 
operators have to pay 55 percent of their operating cost in licence fees 
to the government.

Source:
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=565&fArticleId=134637