Legends 96.6 goes on air

Sri Lanka's latest radio station Legends 96.6FM launched a couple of days ago. The station that is operated by MBC Radio functions as a sister channel to Yes 101FM. The channel focuses on 70's, 80's & 90's music.

After the failure of their oldies radio station Classic Radio a few years ago, this is Maharaja's second attempt at operating a second English Language radio station.

This channel is based on Yes Fm's popular programming block called "Legends".

We wish this brand new channel and the management of Legends FM all the best in their future endeavors.

Legends FM replaces Kirula Radio

Those of you who are fans with us on facebook would already know that FM 96.6 Kirula Radio went off air a week or so ago and was replaced with the latest channel by MBC Radio being Legends FM. Following the same format as the now defunct Classic Radio which was also operated by MBC Radio, this channel is now in testing phase and seems to have good coverage.

Being a English language it will operate in tandem with Yes FM 101 and will be Maharaja's second operational English channel. Even though information on the format, etc hasn't been officially confirmed yet, the channel is testing playing a mix of 70's and 80's music. Which means that the station will play the same format of music once launched.

The station follows the name of a Yes FM programming slot called "Legends" which plays similar music.

We are not sure when this channel is expected to launch officially but it will be much sooner than later.

Please keep us updated with the latest on Legends FM as the days progress.

New English language channel testing in place of Kirula FM

Kirula 96.6 FM which is operated by the Maharaja's ceased their broadcasts as of last night and has been replaced by the test transmissions of a English Language channel. The still unnamed channel is presently testing on FM 96.6 and is broadcasting manly retro music indicating that it could possibly be a retro station that plays mainly 70's and 80's music.

There has been no indication regarding why the channel was closed down. However it seems that the resignation of channel head Kinsley, has played a part in it. The main reason for the closure we believe is the financial viability of the station. If a retro channel is launched this will be Maharaja's second attempt at english retro, the previous one which failed was later relaunched as YFM.

Red FM....

As many of you would know, a brand new English Radio station called Red FM launched a few weeks ago, this was a replacement to "Your Radio" which was in operation previously. Although frequencies were allocated last year along with the re-organisation of radio frequencies in Sri Lanka, the station did take a long time to commence transmissions.

The radio station which mainly plays 90's music has poor transmission quality. The volume levels are muffled compared to other stations. Coverage is an issue despite the fact that these are islandwide frequencies. This we believe is due to poor transmission equipment.

We hope the management of Red FM take steps in rectifying these problems and we wish them the very best in their future endeavors.

Star Sports 2 to launch as a brand new channel

Contrary to previous beliefs that Star Sports 2 is actually "ESPN India" rebranded. It has been confirmed that Star Sports 2 is actually a brand new channel launched by ESPN Star Sports. The launch will take place on March 11th 2013 and international football will be it's driver content. It will also showcase other sporting content.

It's very likely that football content such as English Premier League, Spanish League & the French League will gradually be shifted to the new channel.

The ESPN rebranding exercise will take place as soon as the 100% acquisition of ESPN Star Sports is given the green light by the Indian government. ESPN India will mostly like be rebranded as Fox Sports India to reflect the rest of Asia or will be another Star Sports most likely Star Sports 3.

Source: Star to launch a new sports channel on 11 March - indiantelevision.com

Star Sports 2 to launch soon

According to advertisements running on Star Sports / Star Cricket, Star Sports 2 will be launching soon in the subcontinent. It's highly unlikely to a new rather, rather ESPN India will rebrand as Star Sports 2. In the rest of Asia "ESPN" rebranded as Fox Sports Asia due to ESPN parent company exiting the 50/50 Joint venture and Newscorp operators of Fox/Sky/Star Sports increasing their 50% stake in ESPN Star Sports to 100%.

ESPN will reenter the Sports broadcasting business in Asia after consolidating their other businesses in the region and after the completion of the "non-competitive" clause which spans 4 to 5 years in the event of the joint venture ending. So ESPN will likely reenter this market after 2017 or 2018.

With the sale and rebranding of ESPN in other regions of Asia to Fox Sports, India's Star Network was weighing the options of rebranding ESPN India to either Fox Sports India or as another Star Sports channel. It looks like the decision has been made and ESPN India will become Star Sports 2 and ESPN HD will relaunch as Star Sports HD on the same day or down the line a few days/weeks later.

It should be said that more India focused sports will become increasingly become available on Star Sports 2 owing to the regionalisation of Fox International Channels. There is nothing that our local pay television operators can do about this since, sports telecast rights are so complex & prevents our pay operators from securing Fox Sports Asia into this region.

There are some rumours that Star Sports 2 maybe a separate channel altogether but it's highly unlikely since it is increasingly becoming clear that ESPN India would be relaunched as Star Sports 2.

Sirasa TV broadcasting 24 hours a day?

We are getting unconfirmed reports that Sirasa TV is now broadcasting 24 hours a days. However it looks like a hurriedly organised 24 hour transmission since complains are being received that there is no proper schedule available for late night broadcasts.

At the beginning when the private TV stations were commencing broadcasts most of them went 24 hours but with the power crisis that hit a few years thereafter and with the increasing operational costs the channels closed transmissions around midnight,

Most 24hr television transmissions came to a grinding halt. Now several years later Sirasa TV looks like it is boldly stepping out into the 24hr format. It's actually a good thing since with pay television operators catering to subscribers on a 24x7 basis and with increasing numbers of local channels hopping aboard they will need to rethink their strategy to halt 24hr transmissions since most of the international channels available on pay television channels are available on a 24x7 basis.