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TRAI's recommendation to allow news and current affairs on private FM radio, which is awaiting the formal nod of the I&B Ministry by the year end, has not brought much cheer to radio players.
It's not clear yet to what extent the government will allow news broadcast in this phase, but players are not gung-ho on it. Most of the players plan to air only a 5-10 minute news bulletin every 30 minutes or every hour. Though players believe it can work as a good differentiator, there are divided views on how much advertising it can attract.
Ashit Kukian, executive VP and national head-sales, Radio City 91.1FM, says: "We are yet awaiting clarity on the exact specifics of formats in which this content can be secured, the exact sources from where it can secured and the extent of flexibility allowed to FM broadcasters in showcasing this content. News and current affairs on FM radio will certainly add to the existing listenership and further broaden the listener base.
"These incremental numbers will certainly add to revenues of FM stations."
PB Ramaswamy, cluster director, Big 92.7 FM, says: "Corporate and retail advertisers will increase their spends. News will not only bring in good number of listeners but will also increase the time spent by each listener listening to a particular radio station." If listenership and time spent listening increases, clients will be more confident to put money on radio.
Rajeev Nambiar, COO of Hello FM, says: "Indians have taste for news and current affairs. Now as radio is penetrating to tier 2 and 3 cities, it appears to be a good alternative to newspapers."
Analysts, though, believe intermittent airing of news and sports can work as a double-edged sword. Ashish Pherwani, senior manager, advisory services, Ernst & Young, says: "It can work either way, can increase or decrease listernership. Most people listen to radio for music. If that content is diluted, it can go the other way round."
Rajesh Jain, head of ICE at KPMG, says: "People on move will listen to it and can bring advertising to radio. In Europe and UK, news and sports on radio has worked extremely well because it could tap the local advertisers."
Players believe that news can work only if provided multiple frequency and they can have a separate 24x7 news channels. Then it can get them local advertisers, radio being the cheapest medium. TV news channels bring almost 16 per cent of the total ad revenue from TV.
Currently, some groups like Times, Sun, Radiocity, Big FM and Hello have local language servings. But players believe since they don't have much local language content, more news content will help them go regional. There is no big music industry except Punjabi and Marathi.
In South, it has worked because of the Tollywood. News can be served as local language content. Nevertheless, there will be uncertainty till the government clears the air.