The Hindu Business Line : Big FM teams up with Singapore firm to air Bollywood content

Big FM, the radio initiative of Adlabs Films, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has teamed up with Singapore’s Radio Network MediaCom to broadcast Bollywood content in Singapore.

According to the agreement signed between the two, Big FM will produce and broadcast mainly Bollywood content for three hours daily between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Targeted at Asians seeking Bollywood entertainment, the daily content will be produced in Singapore. “A team of people including RJs from Big FM will be stationed there for that,” Mr Tarun Katial, COO, Big FM, told Business Line from Singapore.

Elaborating on the content, Mr Katial said the programming mix will offer an increasingly large base of Bollywood fans their daily dose of music and content. The three-hour mix will cover Bollywood gossip and trivia, an interview with a Bollywood celebrity every day, humour capsules from comedians Shekhar Suman, Raju Shrivastav and Sunil Pal and news from India – including general news, financial and sports news.

On the revenue streams, Mr Katial said, “Big FM can sell airtime to advertisers and earn revenues from them and will pay a royalty to MediaCom.”

Earlier, in September 2007, Big FM tied up with Asian FM of the US to syndicate non-music content in “Hinglish” to the latter. This was considered as part of the company’s initiative to explore non-traditional revenue steams. However, the total content is being produced in India and supplied to Asian FM from here, unlike the initiative with Singapore Mediacomm, where Big FM will produce content locally.

Big FM, the Rs 400-crore initiative from Adlabs Films, has got licences to operate 45 FM stations across the country. Currently, 44 of them are up and running, and the 45th is scheduled to be launched soon in Shimla.

MediaCom Radio operates 13 FM stations in Singapore, including six English stations, three Chinese, two Malay, one Indian station and an international channel. It also runs TV channels, newspapers and magazines in languages, including English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.

More Stories on : Strategy | Radio/TV | Alliances & Joint Ventures

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Big FM teams up with Singapore firm to air Bollywood content

Auto parts expo generates Rs 25 cr business

Euro Cup live coverage on DD

Hyundai to offer fuel vouchers for i10, Santro

LifeSpring plans chain of hospitals

Suguna in talks with Wal-Mart to supply branded eggs

Reliance Brands ties up with Italian sportswear brand Paul&Shark

Landmark Group’s fashion brand Splash to hit India in Sept

Shakti Bhog Foods enters South