Plea to cut FM radio licence fee

Radio City 91 FM, an FM radio station jointly promoted by Music Broadcast Private Ltd and STAR TV, hopes to break even in next two years time, provided there is a slash in the FM radio broadcaster licensing fee.

"The fee structure is on the higher side and unless it is restructured on a war-footing, this would kill the industry," STAR India Pvt Ltd chief operating officer (radio division) Sumantra Dutta told reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The fee, which was around Rs 1-9 crore (Rs 10-90 million)earlier (depending on the city of operation), was recently hiked by around 15 per cent.

The fee structure was 'non-viable' earlier itself and the hike had made it even more difficult for the industry, Dutta said.

The total expenditure of the five players in FY'03 was around Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million), while they could only garner a meagre Rs 26 crore (Rs 260 million) in the year, he said, adding none of the FM stations had managed to post profits after inception.

An FM station, WIN 98, closed down on Tuesday, as it couldn't pay the 'exorbitant' license fees, industry analysts said.

"We had made a number of recommendations to the central government, but a decision is yet to be taken," he said, and added the industry badly need a favourable decision to 'stay buoyant.'

Meanwhile, the music and entertainment channel Radio City 91 FM is planning to launch eight new programmes, which would be broadcast on its national network of stations comprising Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Lucknow, starting June 2.

"The new programmes will be a mixture of humour and satire, and would help in differentiating ourselves from the rest of the crowd," Music Broadcast Private Ltd director Ashok Khinvasara told reporters.

STAR India Pvt Ltd chief executive officer (radio division) John N Catelett said Radio City has about 38 million listeners and added that with the introduction of new programmes the company expects to garner 10-15 per cent more listeners.

The FM radio station would also unleash a string of advertisements in both electronic and print media.