WorldsSpace and MSN India have tied up to launch an online radio service featuring five WorldSpace station - Farishta (Hindi film classics), Sparsha (Kannada), Spandana (Telugu), Gandharv (Hindustani classical) and Shruti (Carnatic music). The service is priced at $9.99 per month. [via release]

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The service is branded as MSN Radio, and the release doesn’t mention whether MSN is considering further tie-ups with other companies for content. My broadband connection is down (again), so I haven’t been able to try it out. In case you do, do leave a comment. I was wondering about the legal issues - Worldspace has satellite radio rights, but do they have internet rights? Velu Shankar, Sr. Advisor (Content & Programming) for WorldSpace India tells RadioandMusic.com that “We are the only legal site offering streaming music and we pay all the copyright fees. If any kind of music is to survive, the musicians need to be paid.” The report also rightly mentions that an illegal sharing of ID’s could limit fresh registrations.