New FM channels all set to entertain Goans Navhind Times by Sachin Chatte
The FM radio revolution is all set for its second phase. The opening of bids by the I&B ministry for private FM stations is almost complete, with the last round of bidding to be held on February 3. But the bids for Goa have already been opened and the top three bids were that of Entertainment Network (Times group) which operates under the name of Radio Mirchi (Rs 1.71 crore), Radio Indigo (Rs 1.29 crore) and Adlabs, Reliance - Anil Ambani group (Rs 1.21 crore). This time around, for licensing of FM channels, the cities were classified according to the size of their population. Goa comes under category 'D' (population between 10 to 30 lakhs) and is eligible for three new private channels, with a transmitter output of 3 KW. Several cities, especially the metros, already have private channels which were a part of the first phase of privatisation in 2000, which went awfully wrong. The simple reason was that the annual licence fees were not sustainable. The companies, which had bid high, mostly chickened out even before they could start. For instance, the highest bid for a licence in Goa was Rs 4.15 crore - which is ridiculously high and would have escalated by 15 per cent every year. No wonder the plan flopped before it really took off. The new policy of revenue-sharing makes much more sense. Under the new policy, the bids mentioned above are a one-time entry fee (OTEF), as a licence for a 10 year period. Hence in case of the top bidder of Rs 1.71 crore in Goa, it works out to only Rs 17 lakh annually. The Reserve Price is calculated as 25 per cent of the highest valid bid. In this case, the reserve price in Panaji is Rs 42.75 lakh. The annual licence fee is either 4 per cent of revenue share or 10 per cent of Reserve Price, whichever is higher. Therefore, the minimum guaranteed annual payment for Panaji FM operators would be 10 per cent of Rs 42.75 lakh, or Rs 4.275 lakh which is certainly a lucrative proposition. The only local bidder this time was Tarun Graphics Multigraphics but the winners are all outsiders and it remains to be seen how they go about their programming content. Another newspaper group, Pudhari, managed to win a bid for Kolhapur. The Times group makes a comeback of sorts in Goa, as they were operating hourly slots in the mid-nineties along with Radio Mid-day and HMV. But under the present policy, all the new channels will have to use All India Radio's transmitting infrastructure and that means they have to share AIR's transmitter tower in Panaji. This is certainly a setback for South Goa, because though currently AIR operates with a 6 KW transmitter, its reach is limited in South Goa. The private players can operate only 3 KW transmitters, and unless the co-siting policy is changed, there will be little to cheer about south of the Verna plateau. The three new channels will surely create a few job opportunities for Goa - and that includes Radio Jockeys, music managers, producers, marketing & sales, administration and technical staff. Nisha Narayanan, former programme head of Radio City Bangalore and presently a media consultant in Delhi opines that, with its well-known love of music and high disposable incomes, Goa is a great destination for FM Radio. The new channels will basically survive on advertising revenue, and traditionally radio accounts for 7 per cent to 8 per cent of total ad money spent on the media. "Presently, in India, ad-spend is as low as 2 per cent and this is bound to change in a couple of years," she added. In the current scenario, news is not allowed on private FM channels but many of the current new FM players are from the news media. Sources in the I&B ministry say that the ban on news programming may be reconsidered in the couple of years. Though the revolution in television with the advent of cable channels happened more than a decade ago, Radio was quite slow to start off the block thanks to the government policies or rather the lack of it. But now finally things are looking bright for all those who are in love with that Marconi's invention called Radio. In the second part tomorrow, we will look at what these channels could mean to Goa and how their programming content might possibly shape up.