News Broadcasting
Private FM players get payments breather: Trai issues interim recommendations
MUMBAI: After a long while, some cheer for private FM radio broadcasters.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today issued its interim recommendations on private FM broadcast. According to the recommendations, FM licensees may be given the option of deferring payments, which may fall due till a final decision is taken.
The dues as finally decided by the government, after taking into account the recommendation of Trai, would be collected from the licensees with interest from the due date, on the quantum of license fees found to be payable.
The final recommendations of Trai would address the issue of license fee payable as well as the relevant interest rate, says a Trai statement.
Following Trai’s latest directive on the matter, all licensees could be given the option of deferring their next instalment of dues subject to the condition that they would pay this amount, after the issue is decided by the government, with interest as may be decided finally.
Previously, the government constituted a committee on 24 July ’03 to make recommendations for radio broadcasting for phase – II. Chaired by FICCI’s secretary general Amit Mitra, the committee’s terms of reference, inter alia, included the following:
“Study the desirability and legal implications of making modifications in licensing regime of phase-I licensees should a different licensing regime be proposed for phase-II.”
Subsequently the ministry of information and broadcasting, had, on 12 February ’04, sent the report of the committee headed by Mitra to Trai for making appropriate recommendations.
On 11February ’04, five private FM broadcasters had met the deputy prime minister and submitted a representation requesting for deferment of the annual FM license fee, till the government takes a decision on implementation of the FM radio task force’s recommendation. This representation had been referred to Trai, for its recommendations, by the government on 24 February ’04.
The government had in its letter pointed out that in respect to Mumbai, the next license fee for the third year is due in April 2004. Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, licensees have not paid the license fee for the second year due in August 2003, requesting the government to charge the license fee from the date of actual operation. While the government is still considering the matter, if approved, these license fees will also become due in April ’04. It has been pointed out that the request of private broadcasters involves the relaxation of terms and condition of the license.
For making appropriate recommendations on the radio broadcast policy committee report, Trai has been in the process of preparing a consultation paper on which it would seek the comments of all the stakeholders. In this connection Dr Mitra gave a presentation on his report to the authority and will be submitting additional information to the Authority.
Trai has called for the accounts of the phase I licensee and these are being scrutinised. It is also in the process of holding meetings with various stakeholders in this regard. This process is likely to take time and in the meanwhile the license fees of some of the operators is likely to fall due. As such, an interim recommendation has been given to the government on its second request dated 24 February ’04 since this issue overlaps with and is linked to the first request for recommendations.
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
