Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Mauritius studying Indian broadcasting scenario

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD April 20. The Government of Mauritius which had decided in principle to throw open the broadcasting sector to private participation is keen to study the Indian scenario and has sent the chairman of Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), Ashok Radhakissoon, for an on-the-spot study.

Mr. Radhakissoon flew down to Hyderabad and visited the Doordarshan studios and the Ramoji Film City to get a first hand account of the operations involving uplinking facilities, digital transmission and also the audience research wing. The IBA is an independent organisation looking after the broadcast sector in the Republic of Mauritius.

Mr. Radhakissoon, who was here on a three-day visit, told The Hindu that a Hyderabad - based multimedia, networking and television programming company, Horizon Television Limited (HTL) was recently accorded a Letter of Intent for starting a cable television network in Mauritius.

The IBA chief disclosed that licences for starting private radio and TV stations would be given for international companies for a period of three years and five years respectively. The only condition was that at least 15 per cent of the programmes should be based on local languages of Mauritius. The license fee would be 2 million Mauritian rupees for analog transmission of television and Rs 400,000 for FM radio broadcasts.

The IBA would be conducting the research on audience like programme viewership and pass on the findings to the licensees, as a free service, he added. Of the 12 lakh population, over 55 per cent were of Indian origin and Hindi speaking. There about three lakh TV sets in the country. Mr. Radhakissoon had earlier visited the United Kingdom, France and the United States for a similar study. The IBA chairman held extensive talks with the Government of Andhra Pradesh representatives also.

Presently, there were two private TCV channels in Mauritius which download programmes from France TV production companies. He said the Mauritius Government would encourage production of TV programmes, but considering the linguistic and cultural similarities between India and Mauritius, he foresaw great opportunities for Indian production companies in his country.

The HTL representative, P.V. Narasimha Rao, disclosed that his company's Rs 60-crore proposal for starting cable television in Mauritius was given the Letter of Intent after a public hearing conducted by the IBA. Mr. Rao maintained that the programme was to be implemented in three phases. In the first phase involving Rs 15 crores, the HTL plans to cover thickly populated cities and towns like Rose Hills, Quatrebornes, Quipip and Port Louis. The first phase of the cable television project is expected to be completed by end of May.

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