Capital Buys Beat 106, Announces Online Plans
Capital Radio has today announced the acquisition of Beat 106 for £33.75 million. The radio group is to place 3.85 million new shares to purchase the music radio station which broadcasts across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Central Scotland.
The deal will allow Capital to increase its potential audience in the UK to some 58% of the adult population and provide the group with a Scottish base from which to operate its new digital Xfm stations later this year. As a young station, both in terms of its age and its target audience, Beat is a particularly attractive acquisition for Capital, and the group hopes to use the station to drive its national advertising revenues.
It will also provide the group with greater cross-promotional opportunities for its internet activities, which today were enhanced by the news that the group is to launch three narrowcast web radio stations by autumn this year. Working titles for the stations are Diva, a women’s anthems and ballads station, Rage, providing music for computer game players, and Urban Grooves, broadcasting R&B and Soul.
A new online music brand, kikido, has also been created which will house all Capital’s online activity, and also work as a standalone brand providing users with a unicast web radio service. Capital currently simulcasts its London-based stations 95.8 Capital FM, Capital Gold and Xfm across the internet but today’s plans move the group towards a more specifically web-based radio experience.
Narrowcasting advances the conventional streaming process which defines current web-based radio by providing genre-based radio services which allowing listeners to have a say in which songs they want to hear. Unicasting takes this a step further by allowing an individual listener to create his or her own radio station through personalisation techniques developed by artificial intelligence technology.
Mark Frost, managing director of Capital Interactive, said: “Capital Interactive has combined Capital Radio’s 27-year knowledge of music radio with an in-depth understanding of the internet to create a new way of delivering music entertainment.”
The group has also signed deals with record companies BMG, Universal, EMI-Chrysalis-Virgin, Jive and AIM, allowing Capital online airplay rights to the UK’s major and independent labels. Technology deals have been signed with Microsoft and IBM amongst others and distribution deals with handbag.com and sports.com will allow the group’s web radio stations to be transmitted to niche audiences.
Capital Radio: 020 7766 6000