Ofcom agrees to a national Kiss network

Ofcom has permitted all three Kiss commercial radio stations to drop their current ‘localness’ obligations.

In a statement released today, the media regulator said the Kiss stations covering London, East Anglia and the Severn Estuary will no longer be required to broadcast local content and local news on the condition that a national Kiss network is carried in all of the existing local DAB areas.

Bauer requested the format change on 1 November, in the hope that a single Kiss network would be able to share programming.  Ofcom agreed that the request would not result in a substantial change to the character of the music-led radio service.  As such, the regulator will amend Bauer’s current Kiss licence.

“The Radio Licensing Committee (RLC) decided to accept Bauer’s proposal to drop local material and the need for locally made programming on all three Kiss stations, on the condition that the Kiss service is carried on 35 local DAB multiplex areas from the date on which local programming is removed, rising to 38 within three months of that date, so providing carriage in all existing local multiplex areas. Should such DAB carriage not be provided, the requirement for local programming would revert to being a requirement under the stations’ Formats,” the statement said.

MediaCom’s associate director, investment trading, Charlie Yeates says it is an interesting move for Bauer, as it has always stated its desire to remain ‘local’.

“Their stance was the antithesis of Global Radio, who have seized on the initiative of syndicating programming and shows to create ‘national’ brands, but still retaining a local feel,” he said. “As Global have made a success of this with the Heart Network, and plan do to so with the newly launched Capital Network, Bauer have clearly seen there’s an appetite for this from both listeners and clients, and are following suit. They are of course still committed to ‘localness’ via their Big City Network, but Kiss does seem a good place to start in the process given the brand extensions already in place such as events and CDs.”

In October, Mark Barber, director of planning at the RAB, said national brands with networked content are great for advertisers and the changes could be an important factor in helping radio claim a fairer share of ad revenue.

Meanwhile, MediaVest’s Arum Nixon believes the success of the new national Heart network is a sign that listeners are happy with non-localised content – “What is the difference to a local listener if they’re getting quality programming,” he said.  However, other commentators are concerned that people are losing sight of the value of local radio.

Manning Gottlieb OMD’s Helen Keable says we have been “temporarily dazzled by the bright lights of ‘scale’ and lost sight of why we really value local radio; because of the influence it has over its listeners”.  She also thinks the Capital roll-out will be a telling time for the radio business, and will prove a tougher task than the Heart re-brand.