For all Indian radio FM wannabes, Mumbai is the jewel in the crown. And Radio City, the Star India-backed station, is hoping to see services being launched by April-end, industry sources indicate.

A major hold-up so far has been where to locate the FM towers. Music Broadcast Private Limited (MBPL), the company promoting Radio City, is looking for a suitable location in the centre of the city and while one or two places have been shortlisted, a final decision is still to be made, sources say.

Sumantra Dutta, Star India‘s head of FM operations, however, says that an official communication from the government is still awaited. According to Dutta, the government is still to issue an interim power clearance order and only after that could there be any talk of launching services.

Be that as it may, all the backend for starting operations is almost in place. Sources confirm that 10,000 square feet space in the IL&FS building at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai has been taken up which will house Radio City. While reports say Radio City will move into the new office by early February, this could not be independently confirmed.

Dutta, meanwhile, confirmed that MBPL was re-evaluating the viability of starting FM operations in Patna and Nagpur, two of the six cities (Bangalore, Lucknow, Mumbai and Delhi being the others) for which it had secured licenses. Dutta said the depressed economic scenario that currently exists meant the yearly licence fees of Rs 47.5 million for Patna and Rs 74 million for Nagpur were too steep for any worthwhile returns on investment.

If MBPL does drop its FM plans for Patna and Nagpur, it stands to forfeit the bank guarantees it gave for securing the licenses. This is equivalent to one year‘s licence fees for each city.

Star India supplies content and provides sales and marketing support to MBPL?s investments in radio while the venture has been promoted by the PK Mittal Group.

Prasar Bharati seems to have taken criticism by the parliamentary committee on information technology on its poor marketing efforts seriously.

For, its new baby DD Bharati will have a private ad agency prepare a high pitch campaign for the youth, culture and entertainment channel, rather than the staid old Department of Audiovisual Publicity (DAVP) dishing out the usual release prior to its launch on 26 January, Republic Day.

Reports say at least five agencies, including Mudra, Lintas and Crayon, are making a pitch for the account that will be finalised shortly. The pubcaster is obviously not leaving any stone unturned in its effort to make Bharati a winner. DD has tied up with several organisations including the Discovery Channel, the Technology Media Group, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts and Morepen Labs for content.

TMG will produce software for a daily one hour branded slot on infotech, while Morepen will provide content for a daily one-hour slot on healthcare. DD Bharati has already tied up with IGNCA for a slot on culture and may sign an agreement with Discovery for access to international nature and adventure software.

DD Bharati has also finalised a new logo for itself.

On paper at least, the preparations for DD‘s new arrival seem to be spot on. How this translates in terms of viewers‘ response will in part depend on whether there is a match between intent and actuality.

Television Eighteen India Ltd, co-promoter of CNBC India along with CNBC Asia, at its extraordinary board meeting today cleared the way for the issuance of preferential shares and increase of overall ceiling of investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), overseas corporate bodies (OCBs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs), up to 49 per cent of the equity of the company.

The investments made by any of the above entities in the equity shares of the company shall not exceed 10 per cent of the total paid up capital of the company, the board decided.

The the issue and allotment of securities to NRIs, OCBs and/or FIIs, will be on repatriation basis, subject to government or Reserve Bank of India clearance.