The company that publishes the Times of India has confirmed reports that it has agreed to buy Virgin Radio Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries in the UK from the Scottish Media Group (SMG Plc) for £53.2 million. Virgin Radio, which operates on FM in London and on mediumwave across the rest of the UK, will become part of TIML Golden Square Ltd, owners of leading media brands in India such as The Times of India and The Economic Times.
Virgin Radio will drop the Virgin name later this year, and will be re-branded. TIML, which will manage the station along with Irish company Absolute Radio, will invest £15 million in developing and re-launching the station over the next few months.
Virgin Enterprises will retain the brand for its own global radio strategy. There have been reports that Virgin supremo Richard Branson is considering developing his own digital station in the UK.
The acquisition price is less than a quarter of the £225 million SMG paid for the station in 2000. The deal has to be approved by SMG shareholders.
(Sources: UK and Indian press reports)
on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 09:23
For what it’s worth, the press release you quote fails to mention that Virgin Radio is also on DAB throughout the UK.
on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 10:37
Will we see it turn into an indian radio station? Several small niche stations for immigrant groups/foreigners already exist on MW and FM in several towns and cities in the UK and we don’t need a national one.
on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 13:19
BBC Asian Network is already national on DAB, and then there is those
on Astra.
on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 14:40
Clive Dickens, operations director, has said that they are regulated to be a national pop and rock format, that\’s the format they want and they have no plans to change it
on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 22:28
For the record and to be accurate Virgin is only on DAB where Digital One have a multiplex which is far, far from being UK wide. It is only UK wide on AM and satellite.
on Jun 3rd, 2008 at 13:32
I would seriously dispute that it is “UK wide” on AM ..!
As for its rebrand, I rather doubt it will be anything more than cosmetic.
Same dross - different name over the door
on Jun 4th, 2008 at 06:20
Yeah it is UK wide on MW;1215kHz(247m) across much of the United KIngdom. Some areas of the UK with Virgin Radio have fill in MW transmitters on nearby wavelengths to 1215kHz(much as existed with the BBC Radio 3 MW network)to avoid interference problems than if 1215 had been used on all MW tx’s under BBC R3’s ownership from the start.
on Jun 4th, 2008 at 07:31
Virgin is classed as being national by Ofcom, as is Talk and Classic FM.
But the reality is, it costs a great deal of money to get national coverage
to the level the BBC has.
It is a case of diminishing returns, when it comes to running a transmitter
to serve the west highlands of Scotland.