The Hindu : Radio City puts Ministry in a spot

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 28, 2003

National

National

Radio City puts Ministry in a spot

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 27. The Star Group's Radio City continued to `stonewall' the Government's efforts to put its licence agreement and funding pattern under the scanner even as the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry once again found itself unable to defend its delayed response to the FM station's "efforts to by-pass the guidelines''.

At a meeting with Radio City managers on Thursday, I&B officials were apparently unable to get any answers on the arrangement that Music Broadcast Private Ltd. (MBPL) — the licence-holder of the station — has with its content-provider, Digiwave, a subsidiary of Star India Pvt. Ltd. of which the wholly foreign-owned Star Group Ltd. is the holding company.

According to the guidelines, the licensee should generate content, carry out the broadcast, and not transfer it to another entity.

However, in the case of Radio City, the content is being provided by Digiwave. Though the Ministry had been asking Radio City for details about Digiwave, officials found themselves unable to question MBPL representatives about it as they had come armed with a court order restraining the Government from asking questions on Digiwave.

Stonewalling tactics of Radio City apart, the Ministry had been put in a spot by its own delayed action.

While Radio City has been maintaining that its house was in order, the FM station has been countering questions on its licence agreement with the argument that if there was a problem with the company, then why had the Ministry given it the green signal and even renewed its licence.

Such being the line of argument, Ministry officials anticipate a protracted litigation as they feel the Government has no other option but to make Radio City comply with the guidelines.

The decision to put Radio City under the scanner had been taken by the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, on August 12.

When this effort to get replies from the company did not bear fruit, the Ministry followed it up with a show cause notice asking the company why its licence should not be cancelled.

Though the company responded to the show cause, it also secured a stay on termination of its licence and cancellation of its bank guarantee.

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