A report from the European Media Forum is reported to suggest that BBC Radios 1 and 2 should be sold off. They’d raise £500m and since this would “re-balance the radio market and level the competitive playing field between commercial broadcasters.”
I beg to differ.
What’d actually happen is that vast parts of commercial radio would struggle as the newly independent Radios 1 and 2 sucked up the vast majority of advertising. In terms of audience share, commercial would suddenly be bigger – well that’s not surprising, since only Radios 4 and Five Live have any size at all. But would it really help the radio industry?
Who’d be likely to come along and make a bid. Would it be GCap? They’re expected to annouce severely reduced earnings in a couple of days. There’d be British bidders undoubtedly. But isn’t it likelier that Clear Channel would come in and buy at least one, and immediately have a massive stake in the UK commercial radio market.
And would the ad market grow massively to support these services? Or would it simply unbalance the current one, and end up with everyone else losing significant revenues?