ITV

Tag: Millennium Broadcast

  • HC rules against Mirchi on FM licence plea

    HC rules against Mirchi on FM licence plea

    NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: Even as the government awaits the finance ministry’s opinion on the issue of FM radio licence fee, the Bombay High Court has refused to stay the encashment of bank guarantee (by the government) of the Mumbai licence holder (Radio Mirchi).

    The case was filed in Mumbai by Entertainment Network India Limited, which runs FM radio stations in several cities under the brand name Radio Mirchi. The petition sought to restrain the government from attaching its bank guarantee in the event of non payment of license fees, which in the case of the Mumbai licence of Radio Mirchi became payable on 25 April.
    Government officials in Delhi indicated that generally private FM licence holders were given one week’s time from the deadline to pay up. In Radio Mirchi Mumbai’s case the licence agreement technically came to an end on 18 April.

    This one week’s extra time generally granted to the licence holder would mean that others could get time up to 6 May.

    Government officials also told indiantelevision.com that they do not propose to go ahead and encash any bank guarantee after the Bombay High Court’s observations today. “We’d like to combine all such cases and take them to the finance ministry and await its response on the matter,” an information and broadcasting ministry official explained.

    However, the government made light of Win’s threat to go off the air from tomorrow. Pointing out that the I&B ministry was trying to resolve the matter, the ministry official said such posturing by Win was “unwarranted” as it was the FM radio station’s wish to close down.

    Meanwhile, all private FM players, on condition of anonymity, rue the lack of unity within the community. Publicly, they all swear eternal allegiance to the cause of FM radio in the country.

    With the Radio Mirchi petition turned down by the High Court, one of the few flickers of hope for the industry has died. Individually, each player is struggling to find a solution to the impasse or getting ready to shell out the hefty license fee. Win 94.6 has decided to go off the airwaves from 11 pm tomorrow. It is trying to drum up public support for this initiative through announcements on the station today, but among its counterparts in the industry, there is only tacit support. “If only all the players would get together and collectively close down, even if for a short period, it would focus government attention on the issue,” says one player.

    For now, the Millennium Broadcast backed Win is fighting its lone battle in the manner best known to it. Win resorted to the same strategy in May 2003, when its license fees were due and it refused to pay for over a month. This time, again, it says the closure will be indefinite, till the powers that be, see reason and rationalise the license fee structure or temper it with a revenue sharing model.

    Time, or the Election Commission, should tell.

  • Win back with fresh programming, same structure

    MUMBAI: Win 94.6, the private FM radio station that took a 36-day break citing ‘technical and legal hassles’ and returned to the airwaves last Thursday, is back with fine-tuned programming but the same organisational structure.
    The media reticent radio station, owned by Millennium Broadcast was pulled off air on 27 May after reportedly failing to turn in the Rs 97.5 million license fee for the second year of operation. Win officials, currently enthused by the return to air, are reluctant to talk about the exact nature of the settlement that enabled it to resume operations.
    The Win team, however, utilised the ‘vacation’ to spruce up its programming and drum up fresh ideas. The entire production has been redone, says head of programming Vera Mascarenhas Malkani, and three new feature shows added in.
    A new jingle and variations of the same have been introduced at various times of the day since the station went on air again at 4:30 pm on 3 July. “We had barely a couple of hours notice that we could resume before we decided to go on air,” she says.
    The team has however, cleaned up its entire music database with all hit songs playing throughout the day, and the effect is a crisper and fresher music channel. While the tagline, Mumbai’s No 1 hit music radio remains the same, new radio jockeys have also been added to the team that already has now-familiar names like Malishka, Anurag and television personality Roshan Abbas.
    Through the uncertain 36-day sabbatical, not a single member left the team, asserts Malkani. By the time the station pulled off air in May, Win had a 23 per cent market share in terms of revenue among the FM players.
    Says sales head Sanjay Hemady, “Four brands, including HP, Taj President and Forbes’ Dhan Dhanadhan have already come on board.” Several other Win loyalist brands are expected back soon. Advertisers may have waited the long wait for a uniquely positioned channel to come back (Win was the first to realize the potential of going Hindi in a big way and that of playing old Hindi film songs to a captive audience) but listeners may take a while to tune in.
    The relaunch has been a quiet affair, with the communiqués announcing the return essentially targeting clients. But the listeners are trickling in with the new interactive shows that the station has already put together.
    Triple Schezwan, which asks listeners three questions a day, Dhande Ka Funda, which gets different professionals in the city to talk about their work and What’s the Flavour, a show that quizzes listeners calling in on their knowledge of their immediate locality. The last show, particularly, has entailed the Win team compiling a huge database of localities in Mumbai, complete with details of each.
    The 25-member team is now focusing ahead, preferring to put the forced ‘vacation’ behind it. The station had bagged four RAPA awards, three of them for the popular Khanak programme, and one Emvy award for the Kodak special moments campaign, even when it was off air. Advertisers are clambering aboard again, says Hemady, who asserts confidence that Win will do better than the first year of operations.
    The moot question of who has supplied the finances to enable Win to resurface however, is as yet unanswered.
    Win’s predicament is not unique. Go, promoted by Mid-Day has also served notice to terminate its operations by next June, citing high license fees. The big players like Radio City and Radio Mirchi are surviving by dint of organisational support. But talk to most FM station heads and they all say that unless the licence fee regime is changed, it will be “no-go” for everyone.
    The current imbroglio has been brought about due to the incongruous bidding process intiated by the government, in which licence fees were driven up by participants, who later backed completely out. Twenty-three parties bid over Rs 4250 million for 108 frequencies in 40 cities, but only 10 paid bank guarantees.
    The five private FM stations in Mumbai incurred a combined expenditure of Rs 900 million, but earned only Rs 260 million during 2002-03, according to industry estimates.
    A parallel that can be drawn is that of Channel Nine Gold that had the backing of media mogul Kerry Packer and the HFCL group. HFCL Nine Gold mopped up all prime time slots on DD Metro in September 2000 for a minimum guarantee of Rs 1,210 million. Within a few months (and after spending heavily on programming and promoting its shows), the realisation dawned that the deal made no business sense and Nine Gold ceased operations in September 2001.

  • Radio Mirchi first private FM station off the blocks in Mumbai

    The Times Group’s Radio Mirchi got that vital head start over its rivals when Bollywood glam doll Aishwarya Rai did the honours as its FM station was officially flagged off this evening from the Times Building in South Mumbai.

    As per current indications, the next channel that is likely to launch is Radio Today (from the Living Media group). The others that are still waiting to get their respective shows on the road are Radio Mid Day (from the Mumbai eveninger’s stable), Radio City, from Star India and Millennium Broadcast.

    Radio Mirchi is available on the 98.3 FM band.

  • Radio – A Creative Round Table

    Radio – A Creative Round Table

    One could bring the Horse to the water but no one could not force the Horse to drink it’. Thus began the session on the medium of radio. Veteran Radio Jockey Ameen Sayani, pointed out that radio still felt neglected when it came to audiences through the simile. He elicited the probable reasons for this occurrence, going on to add that the eminent panel intended to share workable solutions.

    Mr. Sayani introduced ‘the man responsible for the successful Times FM in its earlier avtaar, Preetam Piragi (Managing Director – ENIL), as the first speaker. The Radio Mirchi chief said, “The day would soon come when Radio Programming would command a convention the size of Frames, just for itself.”

    He stressed the need for Radio Programming to be packaged properly to effectively capture a dedicated listener base. The self- proclaimed ‘media business amateur’ concluded by pointing out that the Radio Jockey was a vital link with the audience and thus needed a strong emotive presence along with an uncanny ability to relate.

    Gautam Radia, CEO – Millennium Broadcast, honoured the dais next. The pioneer behind Radio Josh and Radio Khanak, two independent Internet radio stations, chose to voice his perceptions of where Radio could be a year from now. Citing established global trends, Mr. Radia brought to the audiences notice that the listening consumer market was broad enough for plenty of radio stations to develop individual identities and thus find their own loyal listener base. His station is expected to launch in Mumbai on 29 April this year.

    Ms Usha Bhasin, OSD to CEO and Head of Programming – Prasar Bharati gave a very well-structured presentation on Public Broadcasting. Aided with her ample experience as Programming Head at All India Radio and in depth case studies, Ms. Bhasin presented a range of facts and figures to support the need for social relevance in Radio Programming. Public Broadcasting served an important function as an effective means of mass information and cross-cultural communication. She concluded by drawing attention to the fact that Public Broadcasting was definitely self sufficient if not commercially viable.

    Next, representing the Star Network, CEO – Radiocity John Catlet provided insightful analysis of radio markets abroad. Criticising the steep licensing fees, Mr. Catlet stressed the need for more radio stations for the medium to survive and prosper in India, a country with immense prospects for Radio according to him.

    Emerging internet radio giant, Worldspace made its presence felt strongly with CEO, Mr. Chandrasekhar proudly claiming to outlast and outwit competition through the use of satellites and the advantages it offered. He informed the audience that there were definite growth prospects in using satellites for broadcasting radio, citing the prosperity terrestial TV has enjoyed as an example.

    Emerging internet radio giant, Worldspace made its presence felt strongly with CEO, Mr. Chandrasekhar proudly claiming to outlast and outwit competition through the use of satellites and the advantages it offered. He informed the audience that there were definite growth prospects in using satellites for broadcasting radio, citing the prosperity terrestial TV has enjoyed as an example.

    Radio Mirchi Programming Head Sunil Sahjwani, let his work speak for itself by played slick and hilarious Radio Mirchi Indore promos. Hype building through supporting media helped increase the total market size, informed collegeaue, Mr. Piragi. Thus concluded a day well spent.