Wednesday, August 3 2005 17:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: HT Media has plans to set up FM radio channels at Delhi and Mumbai as soon as the Government announces guidelines for the revenue sharing model.

"We are closely working on the finance model to set up FM stations with Delhi and Mumbai being the two metros on top of the map," HT Media vice chairperson Shobhana Bhartia told newspersons in Mumbai today (Aug 3, 2005).

"Having tied up with Virgin Radio (Asia) Ltd, we find the FM channel attractive now," she said adding, "We will be bidding once the Government announces the guidelines, which is expected by year end."

"We are looking at expanding our internet also as we have designed some verticals, which is our main strength," Bhartia said.

HT Media, which publishes English daily 'Hindustan Times' and Hindi daily 'Hindustan', is also looking at a business paper and a decision is expected soon, she said while addressing newspersons in connection with the Initial Public Offering.

Asked if she is considering a Hindi edition out of Mumbai, Bhartia ruled it out and said vernacular readership is higher in the city than Hindi. With the launch of the Mumbai edition of Hindustan Times, the company is poised for exponential growth, she added.

She said the print media is going through a buoyant period and continues to grow by 15 per cent per annum compared to the electronic media, which is around 12 per cent and added that the vision is to build the HT Media into a leading media company in terms of quality and size.