The Rotana Group, the Saudi Arabian media giant, is planning to go head to head with MBC on the airwaves in its home country after the government's recent decision to open the kingdom's radio market to private competition. Only two private radio stations, MBC FM and Panorama, both owned by the MBC Group, currently broadcast in the kingdom, but two weeks ago the Saudi Ministry of Information and Culture released requests for proposals to create four additional FM stations next year.
Rotana was among more than 30 companies to respond, with plans to submit bids in coming months, ministry officials said. Firas Khashman, the general manager for emerging businesses at Rotana, said he was confident the company would be among the winners. "The first part of the bidding will evaluate the bidders in terms of their experience in the radio business, and Rotana has very good experience in this field," he said. "We already have radio stations in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and all of our radio stations are among the number one or two highest listenerships in each country."
If Rotana does win one of the licences, it will have a formidable competitive advantage, as it owns the world's largest library of Arabic music. It works with radio stations throughout the region to get its recording artists on the air, but in countries where it has its own radio station, its listeners get special perks. "Usually, in markets where we have radio stations, we have exclusivity for a week or 10 days for all new releases," Mr Khashman said. "This is a competitive edge for the user."
Rotana was among the companies behind the push for a more liberal radio market in Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al Hayat, last month's announcement was the result of a three-year study into radio licence implementation launched in 2005 after requests by media companies such as Rotana, which is owned by the Saudi businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, and individuals such as Saleh Kamel, the Saudi owner of the Arab Radio and Television (ART) pay-TV network.
Media companies have two months to submit their offers, and the competition will last another two to three months after that, according to Abdul Majeed, an engineer at the ministry. Mr Majeed said he did not expect the implementation to take long once the winners were chosen because the ministry would buy the land and erect the antennas required for the new stations. "We have the infrastructure almost, so I think within a year, they will be on the air," Mr Majeed said. "We are trying to make it easy for them."
However, Nowal Bakhsh, the director of the family and community programmes department at Riyadh Radio, told Al Hayat that the implementation of the new stations may take time because the project would need special attention. "They have to respect the conditions, and avoid any violations, such as those that happened in the satellite [television] channels," she said. "There is a need to create a special system to restrict media violations. If every single person were allowed to set up a studio in his house, it would be anarchy."
Mr Majeed said the regulation process would vary little from international standards. "We do not control them," he said. "It is up to them. They will be responsible for violations, like in any other country." * Additional research by Mostapha el Mouloudi khagey@thenational.ae