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Bauer Media is currently in talks with Global Radio to buy five of its Midlands stations.Global Radio offered to dispose of the five Midlands stations in a bid to appease the Office of Fair Trading, after its £375 million acquisition of GCap Media in April 2008 (see Global Offers To Sell Off Midlands Stations).At the… Continue reading Bauer bids for five Global stations

RadioCentre is urging the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to relax rules on local media mergers in a bid to prevent station closures.The industry body for commercial radio had pressed the OFT to ensure its current local and regional media merger review spans all media, not just local newspapers.In its submission to the competition body,… Continue reading RadioCentre pushes for commercial radio review

Former co-founder and CEO of Billetts Andy Pearch has joined forces with former MD of Carat Graham Brown to launch a new media performance management company.Media Sense offers brand owners a “fresh, innovative and more strategic approach to engineering greater value and performance from media investments”.The new company will service clients in the UK and… Continue reading Ex-Billetts chief involved in new start-up

Ofcom has today fined the BBC a total of £150,000 for the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand scandal, which took place on Radio 2 last year.The watchdog called Ross and Brand’s comments about Georgina Baillie, the granddaughter of actor Andrew Sachs, “gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning”.Ofcom said: “the scale of the fine reflects the extraordinary… Continue reading Ofcom fines BBC £150,000 for “Sachsgate” affair

Global Radio is set to sell its 63% stake in the national digital radio multiplex, Digital One, to its fellow shareholder Arqiva.The deal, which is thought to be for a nominal sum, will see Global swap its share of Digital One in exchange for cheaper transmission costs for its digital stations from Arqiva, according to… Continue reading Global to sell Digital One stake

The Local Radio Company has received a £1.25m cash takeover bid from Cornwall-based radio group UKRD.The Local Radio Company, which owns 20 local stations around the UK, is one of the few remaining publicly listed radio companies in the UK.Trevor Smallwood, chairman of UKRD, said: “We believe the offer represents an attractive premium over recent… Continue reading Local Radio Company receives £1.25m takeover bid

Absolute Radio has signed a deal to sell Planet Rock’s airtime and online advertising from 1 April, alongside its own network of stations.Planet Rock – which will be sold alongside Absolute Radio, Absolute Classic Rock and Absolute Xtreme – will be establishing its own sponsorship and promotions team.Donnach O’Driscoll, CEO of Absolute Radio, said: “Absolute… Continue reading Absolute Radio and Planet Rock sign ad sales deal

Around 80% of mobile media users access mobile media once a week, with 46% using it daily, according to new research from Orange.The survey, of more than 2,000 mobile media users from across all UK mobile networks, also found that the strongest usage of mobile media being in the home: 67% of participants who used… Continue reading Mobile media usage rises

Current radio regulations are a barrier to the development of commercial digital radio, according to UTV Media’s response to Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report.UTV said that as well as obstacles highlighted by the government such as DAB coverage, receiver and in-car take-up issues, it would “add a fourth: an overly rigid legislative and regulatory environment”.It… Continue reading UTV recommends relaxation of radio rules

The BBC could launch an online radio player open to all broadcast radio providers within the year.According to reports, under the preliminary proposals – which would have to be approved by the BBC Trust – commercial stations such as Capital Radio or Heart FM would available on one hub, similar to the BBC’s iPlayer.Tim Davie,… Continue reading BBC could launch online player for UK radio stations