The competition commission is expected to make a decision any time now on whether or not GWR will be able to acquire the Bristol bit of the Galaxy network off Chrysalis Radio. The acquisition is part of the deal which saw Chrysalis acquire the London news station LBC which GWR used to be a major stakeholder in. GWR plan to merge Galaxy the other Bristol dance station Vibe which GWR half own with Scottish Radio Holdings.
The whole deal should have been done last year, but the Department of Culture insisted the competition commission investigate the acquisition because of GWR's dominance in the commercial radio sector in the Bristol area. That decision surprised the industry who assumed ownership regulation was getting slacker in the build up to the new communications act. If the commission find against GWR it could have quite an affect on the short term ambitions of the major radio groups.