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MUMBAI:
FM radio broadcasters feel the Telecom Regulatory Authority
of India's (Trai) new recommendations can spur revenue growth,
bring in profitability, and expand the genre.
Speaking
at a CEO panel discussion in India Radio Forum 2008 today,
Radio Mirchi CEO Prashant Panday said that the core issue
is to address profitability. "The FM radio industry has
enough space to grow and expand. If Trai's recommendations
on multiple frequencies, expansion into districts, higher
cap on foreign holdings and permission of news see the light
of the day, the FM industry will see a boost in revenues.”
Big
FM COO Tarun Katial, however, felt the need of the hour was
consolidation of the existing stations rather than going in
for multiple frequencies. "If you are given more frequencies,
profitability will be affected. This doesn't mean that I am
against more frequencies and geographical expansions. But
the focus needs to be on investing to build what FM broadcasters
have currently. We have reached a situation where some smaller
operators are finding it difficult to fund operations."
AROI
(Association of Radio Operators of India) president and Radio
City CEO Apurva Purohit said multiple frequency could be allowed
in the top 10 towns where the FM industry had reached a level
of maturity. "These markets had already seen competition.
They could benefit from multiple frequency and format licensing."
The
rest of the towns, according to Purohit, need to consolidate
and invest as these are not matured markets.
Another
pertinent point raised at the forum was about content differentiation.
Radio One CEO Vineet Singh Hukmani called for format rather
than telecom mode of licensing as this would have led to content
differentiation.
The
leading FM operators, however, felt that listeners could differentiate
between the top stations because of their brand building efforts.
While
entering into the third phase of expansion, FM broadcasters
also want the government to up the foreign holding cap (currentlt
fixed at 20 per cent), allow news, and open up multiple frequencies.
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