ITV

Tag: Virgin Radio

  • HT Media officially launches Fever 104 FM

    HT Media officially launches Fever 104 FM

    MUMBAI: Further strengthening its position as a leading media company, HT Media Ltd today announced the official launch of a FM radio station in Delhi under the brand name Fever 104 FM in collaboration with Virgin Radio.

    The Delhi station would be followed by launch in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata (need not necessarily in that order).

    Commenting on the launch, business head S. Keerthivasan said in a statement, “Our brand, our focus on quality, and our people will be our key competitive advantages in an increasingly cluttered and undifferentiated radio market place.”

    He added that the station reflects the “evolving tastes of discerning, urban Indians” who are comfortable with both Hindi and English and seek a good music experience more than anything else from their radio.

    “To give the consumer a radio experience comparable with anywhere in the world, Fever 104 has invested in, and ensured through our tie-up with Virgin, the best quality infrastructure and a highly competent and experienced talent pool,” Keerthivasan said.

    According to an official release, Fever 104 FM is an adult contemporary music station that targets consumers in the age group of 15-39 years and offers them a format radio experience.

    The tag line for Fever 104 FM highlights the philosophy of the radio station: more music, less talk.

    The four-ad launch campaign, developed by Lowe Lintas, projects the brand imagery for Fever 104 FM as one that is contemporary, youthful and innovative.

    Virgin Radio, the programming partner for Fever, has its presence in variious markets, including Bangkok, South Africa, London, Paris and Malaysia.

    Fever’s parent HT Media’s flagship brand is the English daily Hindustan Times. The company also owns Hindi daily Hindustan.

    Apart from the newspapers, the media house owns Hindi magazines Nandan and Kadambini and the company is now looking at launching a business paper.

  • Radio Mirchi to launch visual radio in Delhi

    Radio Mirchi to launch visual radio in Delhi

    MUMBAI: Radio Mirchi will unveil a visual radio in Delhi by the end of this month, making it the third city in the world to adopt a technology that will open up a new revenue for the private FM radio operator.

    Radio Mirchi is partnering with Hutch and Airtel to offer this service. The broadcast will be available on Nokia mobile phones with Hewlett-Packard (HP) as the technology provider.

    “We have identified four key markets including Mumbai for launching visual radio. Though it is too early to exploit strong revenues from this medium, it will give us a presence in emerging platforms like mobile phones,” says Entertainment Network (India) Ltd managing director and CEO AP Parigi.

    Radio Mirchi will speed ahead of Virgin Radio which is planning to launch visual radio later this year. “We are doing test runs and will launch it this year,” says Virgin Radio UK director of digital media James Cridland.

    Helsinki in Finland and Singapore are the other two places where visual radio has kicked off commercially. The plan to launch in Delhi was announced today by Radio Mirchi deputy-CEO Prashant Pandey at the India Radio Forum 2006.

    Radio stations are turning to new revenue streams as they are facing competition from emerging technologies. Specific threats from MP3, which had an estimated 55 million devices in the market in 2005, and internet webcasting are eating into the earnings of traditional radio. So the way out is to adopt into new digital platforms like direct-to-home (DTH) and digital audio broadcasting (DAB).

    Virgin is moving its content to such platforms. “About 28 per cent of our audience is coming from new platforms. As for visual radio, it is important to have a presence in this segment. Nokia will have 100,000 handsets in UK for visual radio by the end of the year,” says Cridland.