MXR Consortium Submits Bid For Third And Last London Digital Licence
The MXR London consortium has announced the submission of its bid for the third and final London digital radio licence. At the same time it has introduced a scheme whereby state secondary schools within the MXR transmission area will be given equipment with which to receive educational data from a new service called the “diginet”.
This is the third attempt by MXR London to win a London licence, having been beaten by CE Digital consortium to the first (see Capital And EMAP Win First London Digital Licence) and Switch Digital for the second (see Switch Digital Wins Second London Licence).
The consortium, made up of Chrysalis Radio, Capital Radio, Guardian Media Group, Soul Media, Spectrum Radio International, UBC Media, Psion and Ford, are proposing programming including a dedicated children’s radio station, an English language service aimed at 2nd and 3rd generation listeners from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, a variety of music channels and a channel broadcasting entertainment listings, interviews, reviews, local news, sport, traffic and travel for the capital.
A winning MXR consortium would also introduce Diginet, by giving a free Psion Wavefinder to state secondary schools in the London transmission area. The Wavefinder can be plugged into the back of a PC to allow it to receive digital radio transmissions, including the Diginet, an educational data service, created to encourage digital radio’s use for educational data broadcasting.
The Radio Authority began advertising the licence last November (see Third And Last London Digital Multiplex Goes Up For Grabs). The closing date for applications is 13 March 2001, and the Authority expects to award the licence, initially for a twelve year period, early in summer this year.
Capital: 020 7766 6000 www.capitalfm.com Chrysalis: 020 7221 2213 www.chrysalis.co.uk Guardian Media: 020 7278 2332 www.gmgplc.co.uk Jazz FM: 020 7706 4100 www.jazzfm.co.uk Radio Authority: 020 7430 2724 www.radioauthority.org.uk
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