Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Sunday, Oct 19, 2008
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Sunday, Oct 19, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs |
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Radio/TV Corporate - Performance Markets - Financial Markets
R. Ravikumar Chennai, Oct. 18 Digital satellite radio broadcasting company, WorldSpace Inc, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a US court after failing to obtain new financing. According to reports, the Maryland-based company has listed a debt of $2.1 billion and assets of $307.4 million as of June 30, 2008. WorldSpace has sought bankruptcy protection so as to be able to raise fresh funds to repay its debts. WorldSpace is present in over 130 countries worldwide. It launched its India services in 2000 with over 35 free-to-air channels. In 2002, it converted a few of its channels to pay and went completely pay in 2004. As at the end 2007, it had a customer base of over 1.6 lakh in India — over 93 per cent of its world-wide subscriber base. It beams over 45 channels in India, most of which are branded ‘WorldSpace’ though a few are owned and operated by other players such as BBC, CNN, AIR and KL Radio. The company stopped all promotional and marketing activities in India by mid-2007. It has also applied for licence to have terrestrial repeaters for better decoding of satellite signals and to develop mobile receivers to be used in automobiles. From Day One, WorldSpace has been subsidising all its receivers in the Indian market. Initially, it sold receivers made in Japan (National, JVC and Hitachi) and later added a few brands from Korea and BPL in India before finally sourcing all the receivers from BPL. These receivers are retailed in India at prices between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,500. The current subscription rate is Rs 1,800 a year. WorldSpace has also been trying to rope in a local partner for a strategic alliance. Besides, licence permitting, it intends to introduce ‘mobile’ receivers — such as those that could be carried in cars. WorldSpace has been in talks with a few car makers for this. The head of India operations could not be contacted. However, other sources, when asked about the fate of the 1.64 lakh Indian subscribers, said that it would take “a few more days for us to get some clarity about India operations”. WorldSpace unveils new signature tune More Stories on : Radio/TV | Performance | Financial Markets
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