Digital Radio Group Announces Final Shareholder Line-Up

A final decision has been made on which companies will make up the core shareholders of the Digital Radio Group (DRG). Former rivals for digital multiplex licences GWR Group, The Wireless Group and SMG had already decided to team up to bid for five regional licences (see Former Rivals Team Up For Next Round Of Digital Multiplex Bids). They will now be joined by Emap and The Carphone Warehouse.

DRG will bid for the North East licence, which was advertised in June this year, the Severn Estuary licence, advertised in July, the West Midlands licence, which is to be advertised this month and the Yorkshire licence, which is to be advertised in November next year.

The Carphone Warehouse is the only one of the companies not traditionally associated with broadcasting. However, the company is already a shareholder in Switchdigital (London) and Switchdigital (Scotland). Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse went on to point out their interest in more practical terms: “Digital radio sets are in our London stores from next week as part of our commitment to digital radio in London and it is our goal to make affordable sets available to consumers right across the UK.”

The other companies’ backgrounds in digital radio are as follows: GWR has a 67% interest in national network operator Digital One and operates three stations on that network. Its subsidiary Now Digital has won three local digital licences to date (see Now Digital Wins Third Local Digital Radio Multiplex Licence). The Wireless Group is the principle shareholder in Switchdigital (London), which operates the second London multiplex (see Second London Digital Radio Multiplex Prepares To Switch On), and also Switchdigital (Scotland) which is the sole applicant for the Central Scotland multiplex. It operates two stations on Digital One.

SMG’s Virgin Radio is a shareholder in Switchdigital London and operates a station on Digital One, while Emap is a joint shareholder in CE Digital, the holder of the first London multiplex licence (see Capital And EMAP Win First London Digital Licence) and multiplexe licences in Birmingham and Manchester. Emap Digital also holds six multiplexelicences for areas in the North of England, giving Emap the largest number of multiplex licences of any UK radio operator.

GWR Group: 020 7284 3000 Scottish Radio Holdings: 0141 306 2242 The Wireless Group: 020 7959 7800 Emap: 020 7504 6000