GCap To Hold On To Xfm Stations
GCap Media will no longer sell two of its three Xfm radio stations outside of London, following the company’s acquisition by Global Radio at the start of April.
Fru Hazlitt, the GCap chief executive, announced in February that the Xfm stations in Scotland, Manchester and south Wales would be sold or their licences would be handed back to Ofcom as part of cost-cutting measures totalling £9 million a year (see DAB Dealt A Blow As Gcap Unveils Radical Measures).
But now the Xfm stations in Scotland and Manchester are to be retained following the £375 million deal with Heart and Galaxy parent Global Radio (see Global Radio To Acquire GCap For £375m).
However, GCap will still look to offload its south Wales station, the newest of the Xfm networks, which launched on November 29 last year (see Xfm South Wales Gets November Launch Date).
It is understood GCap’s board believes it makes more commercial sense to keep the stations now that they will be part of a much bigger group, provided the Global deal is completed.
GCap’s sale of national DAB platform Digital One is also likely to be reversed by its new owner Global Radio. The proposed sale, another part of Hazlitt’s radical measures, is currently on hold (see GCap Puts Plans To Sell Digital One On Hold).
The combined Global Radio-GCap group will comprise about 90 stations and will have more than 40% of the total commercial radio audience.