EMAP Radio unveils plans for SRH integration
EMAP Radio has announced plans to integrate Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) into its portfolio just days after regulators allowed the deal to proceed.
The group is planning to run SRH’s Scottish and Irish stations as a separate division within the group, as it does with its Big City Network. The stations, which include Radio Clyde in Glasgow and Dublin’s 104 FM, will still be run by SRH chief executive David Goode for the foreseeable future, but he is planning to the leave the company at some point next year.
The Vibe and Wave-branded stations, based in the South of England and Wales, will now report to EMAP Radio group managing director Dee Ford.
The changes come just days after broadcast regulator Ofcom ruled that the group will have to sell off a digital multiplex in Scotland and a number of digital stations in order to comply with ownership rules.
The group will have to dispose of one multiplex in either Glasgow or Ayr, because they overlap by more than 50 per cent.
Ofcom also ruled that the combined group has too many stations on three Scottish multiplexes and asked it to drop one from each. It currently has five stations on each.
EMAP took control of SRH, in which it already owned a 28 per cent stake, in June after its £10.80 per share offer was accepted by SRH’s board (MW June 23).
