Govt mulls FM stations in North East, J&K
Posted by Sathish | Published on February 09th, 2009 | Comments 1
New Delhi, Feb 09: Government has proposed to provide licences to 790 new FM channels, including in North East and Jammu and Kashmir, with special incentives to expand the growth of television and radio industry in the country.
During a meeting of the Consultative Committee of Information & Broadcasting ministry today, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma briefed Parliamentarians attached to the committee on recent policy initiatives taken by the ministry to expand the industry.
Proposing to start more radio stations, Sharma said, “The attempt (introducing of more FM licensing) is to further liberalise the terms and conditions of permission to provide more freedom to the industry and to ensure better expansion in the North East, J&K and island territories by providing special incentives.”
The government also proposed that during the FM expansion, for which Phase III will be launched, licences will be granted for setting up stations in towns where population is less than ten lakh.
The number of private FM radio channels has jumped from a meagre 21 in 12 cities in 2004 to 245 in 87 cities till date. It is proposed to provide licences to 790 new FM channels in 210 additional locations in the Phase III of FM expansion.
Filed Under: FM Radio
Dishtv renews contract with Shahrukh Khan
NEW DELHI: Dish TV has extended its endorsement contract with Shah Rukh Khan for another 18 months. Dish TV, which leads the DTH category in the
country, had signed up with Shah Rukh Khan in ’07 to endorse its service. According to Dish TV officials, the service has a base of 4.85 million subscribers. Rival Tata Sky too uses Aamir Khan extensively in its advertising.
As reported by ET last week, Shah Rukh tops the list of celebrity endorsements on TV according to a new Tam AdEx report.
The economic slowdown seems to have had a positive rub-off on the DTH industry, as people have started restricting their entertainment bills and going out less. In the July-September ’08 period, the DTH industry was adding six lakh subscribers per month, but the base jumped to one million in the October-December period.
“The DTH sector is witnessing explosive growth and Dish TV is fully equipped with key resources to maintain its leadership position in this growth phase. We have posted robust numbers in Q3 FY09 and are set to garner 8 million subscribers in next fiscal,” Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor said.
Dish TV has added 7.89 lakh subscribers in the Q3 FY ’09 compared to 5.29 lakh new subscribers in the previous quarter, registering an increase of 49%.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Media__Entertainment_/Dish_TV_renews_contract_with_Shah_Rukh_Khan/articleshow/4106520.cms