[cr-india] FM stations to be launched by early 2007 in India

[sakthi vel]

It’s been some  
time since the second phase of bidding for FM
licences, which included 338 FM stations for 90
cities, ended. But it seems that there’s still time
before these radio stations become operational,
especially in the smaller towns.

As per government regulations, private FM players are
allowed to set up their own transmission towers in the
metros and a few select other cities. These cities are
Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad
and Jaipur. As a result, the new FM stations are being
launched only in these cities. 

In other towns, the FM players need to follow a
collocation policy, wherein all the players will have
to operate through a single transmission tower.

In many cities, the various FM players will have to
bank on AIR or Doordarshan towers to facilitate
transmission. The government has appointed the
Broadcast Engineering Services India Ltd (BESIL) to
coordinate these procedures. 

The private players need to sign an agreement and
deposit a fee with BESIL, and most of the FM players
claim to have done so. Now BESIL’s job is to procure
the equipment and set up the transmission towers. 

BESIL’s managing director, KRP Verma, says that it
takes almost 52 weeks from the date of signing to set
up the infrastructure. This implies that the set-up
should be ready by January 2007 or, at the latest, by
May 2007. 

A senior executive at Synergy Media, Sanjay Jain, AGM
(project), expresses discontent at BESIL’s
functioning. He says, “It has been close to 13 weeks
now and the process hasn’t even been started. We
haven’t received any intimation from BESIL.” 

Others in the queue such as ADAG’s Adlabs and the
Times Group’s ENIL (Entertainment Network India Ltd)
feel that the proceedings are taking their normal
course of time. 

Rajesh Sawhney, president, Reliance Entertainment, is
hopeful that all the Adlabs FM stations will be
operational by early 2007. 

So, those who are eagerly waiting for the FM boom in
India will probably have to wait a few more months. 

© 2006 agencyfaqs! story fileby Sapna Nair 
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Source:
http://www.agencyfaqs.com/news/stories/2006/06/08/15230.html
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Jaisakthivel,
Chennai,
India
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