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overview
holdings
landmarks
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overview
EMAP
was a UK broadcaster and newspaper and consumer magazine
publisher with a presence in Australia and most European
countries.
It dated from the 1947 merger of four local newspaper
publishers in the UK to form East Midland Allied Press
(EMAP) under control of Winfrey family.
As of May 2006 its operations embraced -
- 150
consumer magazines in the UK, France and elsewhere
- over
200 business-to-business events and magazines
- 18
UK local analogue radio stations
-
seven digital music TV channels
- the
largest digital radio network in the UK
In
2004 it acquired 29% of Scottish Radio Holdings (regional
newspapers and 22 radio stations) from SMG
for £90 million. In June 2005 it announced a deal
to buy the 73% of SRH that it did not own, selling the
SRH newspaper division (Score Press) to Johnston
for £155 million.
In June 2006 it announced that it would return £285m
to shareholders after agreeing to sell its ailing French
magazine operations (including Closer, Le
Film Francais and the Tele Star and Tele
Poche television guides) to Berlusconi-controlled
Mondadori for £380m. The sale of Emap France was
conditional on European regulatory clearance.
In December 2007 it announced that it would sell its consumer
magazine unit (£718 million for titles such as Grazia,
Heat and FHM) and radio arm (£422
million for stations and channels inc Magic FM, Kiss 100
and Kerrang!) to Bauer for £1.14
billion. Emap said it intended to return about £1
billion of the proceeds to shareholders.
The same month saw sale of Emap's business-to-business
magazine and events arm to Guardian Media Group (GMG)
and private equity firm Apax for around £1 billion,
with the proceeds being distributed to shareholders.
SRH and Morton
Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) dates fromthe early 1970s
when a
consortium of Glasgow business figures gained the third
UK commercial radio licence, with Radio Clyde going live
in 1974. In 1991 it merged with Radio Forth in Edinburgh
(which like Clyde had absorbed other operators in the
1980s) to create Scottish Radio Holdings plc. SRH expanded
into weekly newspapers in 1995 through acquisition of
Morton Newspapers, the largest local publisher in Northern
Ireland, and subsequently bought titles in Scotland and
Eire along with Irish radio stations.
As of May 2005 the group's print operations encompassed
44 titles, including the Kilkenny People, Tipperary
Star, The Nationalist, Leitrim Observer, Stornoway Gazette,
The Hebridean, The Nationalist & Munster Advertiser
and Longford Leader. Radio operations included
Today FM (marketed as Ireland's independent national radio
station), Dublin's biggest radio station (FM 104), 3C
Digital , CFM Radio, Downtown Radio Cool FM, Moray Firth
Radio,
Northsound Radio, Radio Borders, Radio Clyde, Radio Forth,
Radio Tay, Vibe FM 101, Vibe FM 105-108, Wave 105 FM and
West Sound Radio.
Morton Newspapers was established in 1936, when the Lurgan
Mail was purchased by John Morton. The job-printing
section was sold in 1949 to fund purchase of the Portadown
Times, with the Londonderry Sentinel
being acquired in 1953 and launch of the Ulster Star
in 1957. FarmWeek, claimed as Northern Ireland's
leading farming weekly, was launched in 1959. In 1986
Morton purchased the Ballymena Times and Larne
Times from Thomson's
Belfast Telegraph, going on to launch titles
such as the Coleraine Times, Craigavon Echo,
Lisburn Echo, NorthWest Echo, Ballymoney
Times, Roe Valley Sentinel and Dromore
Star. In 1990 Morton acquired the Mid Ulster
Mail in 1990 and the Leader (based in Dromore)
in 1992. It subsequently encompassed the Banbridge Leader,
Mid Ulster Echo, Tyrone Times and monthly
East Antrim Advertiser.
studies
There has been no major independent study of the Emap
group. A reverential view of the founders is provided
in David Newton's Men of Mark: Makers of East Midland
Allied Press (Peterborough: Emap 1977).
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