2008 round-up: Radio
Big stories in radio in 2008 included the uncertain future of DAB, Global Radio’s takeover of GCap Media and the birth of Absolute Radio.
The year began with GCap rejecting a bid from Global Radio, thought to be worth about £310 million (see
GCap Turns Down Global Radio Takeover Bid DAB Dealt A Blow As Gcap Unveils Radical Measures).
New chief executive Fru Hazlitt confirmed the closure of digital stations theJazz and Planet Rock and the intended sale of the group’s majority stake in Digital One.
After more wrangling, GCap finally accepted a revised £375 million offer from Global at the start of April (see Global Radio To Acquire GCap For £375m). Global then appointed Stephen Miron, former executive at the Mail on Sunday, as chief executive of the combined business in August (see Global Radio Hires New Chief Exec Following GCap Merger).
Following 2007’s fanfare over Channel 4’s step into the digital radio arena, 2008 got off to a shaky start for the broadcaster as it delayed the launch of the first services on the second national digital DAB multiplex until the autumn.
In its original licence application Channel 4 said that most of the stations would be launched by the summer (see 4Radio Set For Autumn Launch).
May saw the publication of figures from GfK, the industry’s marketing service, showing that DAB radio cumulative sales stood at 7.05 million following a record Christmas period and growth of 28% year-on-year in the first quarter (see DAB Radio Sales Top Seven Million).
After several months of rumours, in October Channel 4 finally pulled out of its digital radio venture with 4 Digital Group (see Channel 4 Abandons Digital Radio Venture).
A statement released by Ofcom said: “Channel 4 has today informed Ofcom of its decision to withdraw from 4 Digital Group, the consortium which was awarded a licence for the second national commercial DAB radio multiplex last year.”
Many commentators who put the flagging enthusiasm for DAB down to the lack of a time-frame for a switch from analogue to digital radio, welcomed a report from the government’s Digital Radio Working Group that said a switch could be completed by 2020 (see Digital Radio Switchover Could Happen By 2020). A follow-up report from the DRWG found that the UK could make the switch from as early as 2017 (see Digital radio switchover by 2017).
Elsewhere, SMG sold Virgin Radio to TIML Golden Square in June for £53.2 million (see Virgin Radio Sale Confirmed). The new owners revealed in September that the station would be rebranded Absolute (see Virgin Radio To Become Absolute).
As the year drew to a close, figures from RAJAR revealed that almost a third (31.7%) of the UK’s adult population claimed to have listened to the radio via the internet, while 7.2 million had downloaded a podcast.
The survey, conducted in October by Ipsos MORI, also found that the majority of internet radio listening took place at home (89%) while one in five listened at work (21%) (see Almost a third of UK adults listen to radio via the internet)
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