"The Rendon Group [3] is part of a nine-member consortium that has made a $98 million bid to rebuild the Iraqi Media Network [4]. WorldSpace Corp., the Washington, D.C.-based satellite broadcaster, leads the group," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "The Coalition Provisional Authority [5] is awarding the contract to repair the infrastructure, provide programming and train workers for Iraq's national TV, radio networks and Al-Sabbah newspaper. Al-Sabbah is Iraq's largest paper with a daily circulation of more than 60,000. One of its two printing presses was bombed during the Iraqi invasion.
The contract also calls for development of an 'exit strategy' to pave the way to the privatization of IMN. The one-year pact, which is supposed to go into effect on Jan. 1, has two six-month extension options. WorldSpace's satellite radio service has been broadcasting into the Middle East since 1999. It provides entertainment content to XM Satellite Radio in the U.S."