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No details were, however, made available as to the nature of the
radio venture that Astro was looking at for the Indian market. The
options before Astro, keeping in mind the Indian government guidelines
for radio ventures, is to start a digital satellite TV radio service
on the lines of those been made available by Worldspace at the moment.
Another option for Astro is to hitch up with a local partner to
start community radio services. But the licence procedure for community
radio service is cumbersome, which has been a deterrent for several
other players. Or else, Astro can optimistically wait for the Indian
government to review foreign investment norms in FM radio sector,
which is nil at the moment.
But, Astro's parent company Measat did have a relationship with
Indian pubcaster Doordarshan in the mid to late 1990s for starting
a KU-band DTH television service in India. The memorandum of understanding
was allowed to lapse, as DD did not get the requisite permission
from the government.
Astro, an integrated media major (pay TV, radio and movies), has,
however said it's bullish on maintaining robust pay TV subscriber
growth at the 300,000/year level and expanding regionally. According
to Media Routes, Astro's first quarter result was marginally below
expectations amid noise about piracy and new competition (MiTV,
Telekom).
Astro also plans to complete a $300 million syndicated loan facility
this year, which will be used to repay its outstanding $250 million
term loans. On a conservative note, MPA has forecast that Astro
is likely to add slightly under 260,000 subscribers for the 12-month
period to end in January 2005, taking Astro's overall residential
subscriber base to 1.542 million.
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