Worldspace Radio had (and still has) die-hard fans who could not do without it when it first came in India few years back. But, its first stint did not last for too long and it shut down couple of years later after launch. After a gap of about 5 years it is back but in a different form to make it viable for them.
Last year their was news that Saregama India and Timbre Media had announced a strategic alliance under which Saregama acquired stake in Timbre Media and were planning to bring Worldspace Radio back.
Earlier this year, Vodafone launched Worldspace radio subscription service on its network allowing subscribers to enjoy 10 Worldspace Radio stations on their mobile phone.
Now, Airtel has also gone ahead and announced launch of Worldspace Radio on their DTH service. Worldspace Radio will be called iMusicSpace on Airtel Digital TV and will allow Airtel DTH subscribers to enjoy 12 channels on their TV in their native language that includes Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada or Telugu.
iMusicSpace service has been launched on the Airtel DTH platform in association with Saregama and Timbre Media who will jointly provide the content for the application.
Following Channels will be available on iMusicSpace
- Magikbox (kids),
- Shraddha (Devotional)
- Farishta (Retro Hindi)
- Falak (Ghazals),
- Sonar (Bengali),
- Umang (Gujarati),
- Surabhi (Marathi),
- Tunak (Punjabi),
- Thenisai (Tamil)
- Madhuri (Malayalam),
- Sparsha (Kannada) and
- Spandana (Telugu).
The iMusicSpace service will be available to users are Rs. 35 per month and you can subscribe to it by sending an SMS “Add Music” to 54325
I was personally a big fan of Worldspace, but I am not sure if a single channel above will vet my appetite. I was fan of English music on WorldSpace Radio and that is precisely lacking in iMusicSpace. Airtel has decided to go ahead and focus on regional audience, which probably makes more sense than sporadic users like us who are in minority.
What do you think of iMusicSpace? Will it take-off?
