As expected, Global Radio has said it will sell five Midlands-based radio stations as part of its takeover of rival GCap. The move is designed to allay fears that a combined Global/GCap will command too big a share of the Midlands radio market.
Global will sell four of GCap's local stations in the area - BRMB, Beacon Radio, Wyvern and Mercia FM - and will also look to offload its own Midlands outpost Heart 106, either by selling it, or offering the service to a third party under some kind of franchise agreement (thus keeping the Heart brand within the Global group).
As previously reported, while a combined Global/GCap will own two of the major music stations in London - Capital and Heart 106.2 - competition regulators do not consider that a problem because of the crowded nature of the London radio market. In the Midlands, however, there were concerns and Global's top guard have been in talks with the Office Of Fair Trading to see how they could be overcome.
The OFT have reportedly accepted the five station sale as a solution, and the merger is now expected to be approved in due course. Staff at both radio firms, which have both undergone significant job cuts already ahead of the merger, are now waiting to see if any more redundancies will occur once the two companies are properly combined.