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Ahead of the
August 1 deadline for signing the MoU, private FM radio licencees
in the three metros (Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai) have expressed
their willingness to let Broadcast Engineering Consultants India
Ltd (Becil) setting up the operations for them. Becil has fixed
August 5 as the date for starting the project.
At present Becil
and the private FM licencees are in talks to clear doubts about
the MoU. But an official with an FM company said that things were
moving in a positive direction and indicated that there were no
hitches. He added that MoU papers had been sent to lawyers for processing.
It may be recalled
that French infrastructure company TDF, which was nearly appointed
as the integrator for the radio project, walked out of the venture
at an advanced stage over disagreements regarding the MoU clauses.
But now the parties involved in the venture feel that there isn’t
much room for a repeat of the TDF experience as time is running
out.
According to
Becil CMD KRP Verma, it will take the company 26 weeks to complete
the integration project for the FM licencees in three cities. Even
if Becil starts work on August 5, the operations will come into
being only by mid-March 2003, way beyond August 29, 2002 - the last
date set for paying the licence fee for the three metros. Meanwhile,
whether private FM licencees in the three cities would go in for
an interim arrangement, before setting up permanent operations,
is still an unanswered question. Players (FM broadcasters) are not
keen on airing their views on an interim setup at this stage. They
say, “The government has to take a call on the issue.”
But the broadcasters’ plea is that since Mumbai players have
already begun operations, licencees in the other metros should also
be allowed to set up their business on an interim basis, till they
go in for a common tower. Although government officials have indicated
that permission for the interim setup looks unlikely for Delhi,
Kolkata and Chennai players, there’s no formal decision on
the issue yet.
Private FM players including the Mid-Day group, Radio Today of the
Living Media group, Music Broadcast (Star-Ispat venture) and Entertainment
Network of the Bennett Coleman group, are expected to sign on with
Becil on August 1. As per government norms, FM licencees must co-locate
their transmitters on the All India Radio (AIR) towers in the three
metros, with the help of an integrator. Mumbai FM licencees have
already begun separate operations on an interim basis because AIR
could not offer its tower in the city for co-location.
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