The Hindu Business Line : WorldSpace strikes a chord with discerning listeners

IT is not aimed at the mass market in India but for those discerning music lovers who want their uninterrupted dose of jazz, rock, Indian classical music or old Hindi film songs.

Worldspace Satellite Radio, which launched its services in Mumbai recently, is unperturbed by FM radio or music television in the country.

There is an audience that is willing to pay for clutter-free, high quality focussed listening, says an official of WorldSpace India Private Ltd. And the price starts from around Rs 3,790 for a radio receiver and Rs 1,800 as annual subscription fee.

The fact that WorldSpace has a subscription base of 60,000 in India indicates that there is an audience segment for satellite radio.

"What makes WorldSpace interesting to the consumer is the fact that it has outstanding sound quality. The music stations are strongly focussed on the genres and therefore there is an in-depth exploration of music. Besides, there are no advertisements," said the WorldSpace official.

Enthused by the response so far, WorldSpace wants to extend its services to a few other cities.

"Work has already begun to launch our services in Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Pune and Kolkata," said Mr Deepak Varma, Managing Director, WorldSpace India Private Ltd.

In Mumbai, WorldSpace Satellite Radio offers 39 radio stations as part of its bouquet, offering different kinds of music, in addition to news, sports and general information.

There are two Indian classical music channels — Shruti (Carnatic) and Gandharv (Hindustani). Regional stations on offer include Tara (Bengali), KL Radio (Tamil), Sparsha (Kannada), RM Radio (Malayalam) and Spandana (Telugu).

The company plans to introduce dedicated stations in other regional languages too. The news stations include CNN, Bloomberg, BBC Asia West, WRN, Asia Development, NDTV (English) and NDTV (Hindi).

If a consumer chooses not to renew subscription, there are five free-to-air radio stations which include those on information, spirituality, and two international music channels.

WorldSpace, according to Mr Varma, has a strong presence in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.

"We launched our services in Delhi and Mumbai earlier this month and, in both these cities, there has been a fantastic response from consumers," he said.

WorldSpace has launched an advertising campaign in Mumbai city across the outdoor, print, and radio media.

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