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Business News Deals Media
Bauer set to acquire Jack FM frequencies in Oxfordshire
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 18 July 2023
Bauer Media is set to acquire some more FM frequencies, this time in Oxfordshire, having agreed to a deal with Jack Media.
The acquisition is still subject to regulatory approval and Bauer hasn’t yet said what it plans to do with the frequencies currently used by Jack-branded stations in the county, though a further expansion of the media firm’s Greatest Hits Radio service seems likely.
The company now known as Jack Media Oxfordshire Ltd first launched a Jack FM station in Oxford in 2007, licensing a brand and format that already existed on the airwaves in North America. For a time Jack FM stations were on air in other parts of the UK as well, and – in 2016 – a national digital-only Union Jack Radio service was launched.
The separate company that operated the latter went into administration last year, resulting in the Union Jack stations going off the air. However, in Oxfordshire, Jack FM – and another sister Jack-branded station – continue to operate on the FM dial.
For now. Having originally licensed the Jack FM brand from its North American owner, Jack Media Oxfordshire subsequently acquired the European rights to that brand. But those rights are not part of the Bauer deal.
So, although Jack FM will remain on air while this deal goes through the regulatory process, once completed, Bauer will have to put one of its own brands onto the frequencies it is buying.
This isn’t a problem, given that Bauer almost certainly wants the frequencies in order to extend the reach of one of its existing brands anyway. And Greatest Hits Radio is the brand Bauer has been most aggressively expanding in recent years.
Confirming the deal, Bauer Media Audio UK CEO Simon Myciunka says: “This acquisition will make it easier for our valued audiences in Oxfordshire to connect with our services, unlocking increased scale for our brands and commercial partners alike. My thanks go to the Jack FM Oxfordshire team who we will work closely with as we work through this transition”.
Clive Dickens, a non-exec director at Jack Media Oxfordshire Ltd, adds: “The founders and directors of Jack Media would like to thank the staff, listeners, advertisers and the Oxfordshire community for the incredible privilege of providing multi-award-winning local broadcast radio for the last eighteen years”.
