On 10th February at 13.14 CET IBC Tamil Radio was bought by a former IBC presenter, Para Prabha. IBC Tamil Radio was started from London on 9th June in 1997 and is the second 24 Hour Tamil satellite radio in Europe after Radio Asia's TRT Tamil Oli from Paris. It ran successfully as the voice of Eelam Tamils until may 2009 where the Tamil liberation struggle for Tamil Eelam on the island called Sri Lanka was brutally defeated by the Sri Lankan military forces. 

In the following years IBC Tamil was taken over by Sathy Media, who started IBC Tamil on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) in Greater London area. Sathy Media did also launch its sister station in Hindi and other Northindian languages, called IBC Asia on DAB in London. The style and way of IBC Tamil Radio programmes were changed and while many of the wellknown IBC presenters left the radiostation, new presenters took over. S.K. Rajan launched his own radiostation in Paris called Thamizhamutham Radio, A.C. Tharcicious launched ILC Tamil, MP Aarokiyanaathan launched ABC Tamil and others EBC Tamil.   

The split and change in IBC Tamil Radio made people sad, and people thought it was the fate after the defeat of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. But with the acquisition of IBC Tamil Radio by Para Prabha, new changes are going to be made in IBC Tamil Radio in the coming days/weeks. Actually a lot of the former presenters of IBC Tamil Radio are going to join IBC Tamil Radio again. Presenters like S.K. Rajan, Sumathi Sureshan (also former Deepam TV presenter), Sivananthi, MP Arokkiyanaathan, etc. have already joined IBC Tamil Radio. SK Rajan, Para Prabha and Sumathi Sureshan did the first show after the acquisition of IBC Tamil by Para Prabha where they told listeners about the new change. Para Prabha did also tell that many of the old presenters were very happy about the acquisition and that they were ready to join and help IBC again. Para Prabha also told the listeners that he couldn't contact all the former presenters and others who had worked for IBC, but that he was trying to contact all people who had worked for IBC in the beginning. He also expressed his happiness about the great support he got from all the former IBC presenters and that he was going to hold more meetings about the new IBC in the coming period. 

With the news about IBC Tamil's new management spreading fast, IBC Tamil also broadcasted greetings from B.H. Abdul Hamid from India, Appukuddi T. Rajagobalan, Sinnakuddi Thayanithi Rajagobalan, Gunabalan (from TTN's Nayandi Melam) and many others. Listeners also expressed their happiness and told that they were very happy about the news and that they got rears in the eyes. 

IBC Tamil has already begun to broadcast some of their old programmes, which where skipped by Sathy Media when they relaunched IBC Tamil with fresh new programmes. For example "Thedivarum Thendral" is back and more of the old programme-schedule is expected to be reintroduced in the coming period. 

S.K. Rajan has announced that IBC Tamil will broadcast on FM in Paris from 15.00-16.00 CET daily where he has broadcasted his Thamizhamutham Radio. The Tamil slot on FM will still be known as "Thamizhamutham". Currently the 24 Hour webstream of Thamizhamutham Radio has been stopped. In the meantime IBC Tamil will still be available on Eutelsat Hotbird (13 degree East): 12597, V, SR 27500 and fec 3/4 and on DAB in Greater London. IBC Tamil has also been available through Thamizhamutham Radio's new broadcast on frequency on Eurobird 9A (9 degree East): 11919, V, SR 27500 and fec 3/4 (ITBC Radio), which has been broadcasting a mix of Thamizhamutham Radio, ILC Tamil and IBC Tamil. 

ILC Tamil is currently broadcasting a programme slot on MW 558 from 6-10 PM daily. IBC Tamil has earlier been broadcasting on this MW 558 slot for many years until IBC Tamil's new management decided to only focus on DAB instead with a 24 Hour broadcast. It is still unknown if ILC Tamil presenters will join IBC again and close their radiostation. Time will show what will happen in this case as it depends on what is possible with the license-approval from British Ofcom - which is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries.

Para Prabha has worked for IBC Tamil Radio in the beginning. Then he also worked for TTN Tamil TV in Paris, and after the closure of TTN in 2007, he was then involved in opening a new Tamil TV-station called Euro TV Tamil from Swiss, which managed to stream online and also be available for some days on Eurobird 9A satellite until the Sri Lankan government also managed to suppress this free and independent Tamil media. 

Now with his involvement in relaunching the "old" IBC Tamil in UK and the relaunch of TTN Tamil TV in Paris, Eelam media power is rising like the Phoenix bird to unify Tamils in the world. 

Keep an eye with Media Asia website for more news about the new IBC. 

Our best wishes to IBC Tamil!

- Media Asia