Speedbreaker ahead?

Tattle

The negotiations between India's largest print media company, Bennett, Coleman & Co, and New York's Dow Jones, on "The Wall Street Journal's" India foray seem to be in a critical phase. Though Bennett, Coleman had announced its tie-up with Dow Jones to print and publish the WSJ in India, it now appears that the two media companies are still negotiating on a non-compete clause.

Apparently, the American media company has included a clause that restricts the Times group from entering into similar arrangment with any other financial paper. The latter, it is learnt is still mulling over the point. Consequently, the final deal between the two is yet to be inked.

But Dow Jones' representative in India told Ice World that the deal was still on and was just going through the various stages of negotiations.

Vacancy at the I&B ministry

Information and broadcasting (I&B) secretary Pawan Chopra is due to retire in May this year and the hunt for his successor is on. Among the names on the contestants' list for the high-profile post is Vijay Singh, the Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer who is due for a promotion.

Singh, the additional secretary in the I&B ministry who looks after radio and television broadcasting, has been in the hot seat for nearly a year. He is said to get along well with his current minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad. However, a lot will depend on what happens after the elections, and on whether Prasad will return as I&B minister if the National Democratic Alliance is returned to power.

Radio buzz

Guess who's hitting town this week? Andy Ras-Work, chief operating officer of the Washinton-based WorldSpace Corporation, the satellite radio company. Ras-Work is responsible for WorldSpace's regional operations and the buzz is that WorldSpace will be launching nationally its music store (listeners can come here and listen to their choice of music on any of the WorldSpace channels).

The store was launched in Bangalore in January 2004. Bangalore has three stores and the national launch will begin at Chennai.