Its 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 theres 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 BESILs job is to procure the equipment and set up the transmission towers. BESILs 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 BESILs functioning. He says, It has been close to 13 weeks now and the process hasnt even been started. We havent received any intimation from BESIL. Others in the queue such as ADAGs Adlabs and the Times Groups 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 +++++++++++++++++++ Source: http://www.agencyfaqs.com/news/stories/2006/06/08/15230.html +++++++++++++++++++ Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India +++++++++++++++++++ Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com <br><br> Stay connected with your friends even when away from PC. Link: http://in.mobile.yahoo.com/new/messenger/ ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- World Radio TV Handbook 2006 is out. Order yours from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823059367/hardcoredxcom/ ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html
