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holdings
landmarks
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overview
This
profile considers UK broadcaster GCap Media and its precedessors
GWR and Capital Radio.
It covers -
introduction
GCap Media results from the 2005 merger of Capital and
GWR. As of that date it had around 40% of the UK's commercial
radio advertising revenue and reached 36% of the commercial
radio audience.
In April 2008 GCap agreed to accept a £375 million
takeover bid from privately owned rival Global Radio Group.
Global was established in 2007, with a management team
led by former ITV boss Charles Allen acquiring the stations
of broadcaster and record company Chrysalis using private
equity. An initial bid for GCap was rejected by the target's
board as "derisory".
the group
GCap operates several networks and is a minority shareholder
in other radio operators and stations.
It has a 20% stake in Classic Gold Digital Ltd (operator
of 18 AM radio stations), 20% of Basingstoke's 107.6 Kestrel
FM and a 19% stake in Star 107.2 in Bristol. The group
also has a 63% stake in Digital One, the UK's sole national
digital radio multiplex.
In local digital radio it has a 24% interest in MXR Digital
(operating in London, Manchester and Birmingham), a 38.7%
stake in London multiplex operator Digital Radio Group,
a 72.5% stake in NOWdigital (East Midlands) which operates
multiplexes in Leicester and Nottingham and 63% of South
West Digital Radio Ltd, operator of the Plymouth &
Cornwall digital multiplex.
Digital content interests as of 2005 included a 49% stake
in EG digital (a joint-venture with EMAP),
a 50% share of Hopstar (a joint-venture with Time Out
to develop audio content based on Time Out material) and
a joint-venture with UBC Media to operate data services
on local digital multiplexes. In February 2008 GCAP announced
that it saw "no future" for Digital Audio Broadcasting
(DAB) technology and accordingly planned to abandon many
of its digital radio investments. The group's 63% stake
in Digital One, the national radio multiplex, would be
sold to Arqiva and digital radio stations Planet Rock
and theJazz would be closed
GWR
GWR traces its origins to Wiltshire Radio, a UK commercial
radio station established in 1982 for £630,000.
Wiltshire merged with Radio West of Bristol in 1985 as
GWR. Expansion was achieved by growth of existing operations
and by acquisition.
In 1989 GWR (comprising stations in Bristol, Swindon and
Plymouth) merged with Consolidated Radio Holdings (stations
in Reading and Bournemouth), subsequently gaining the
licence for Classic FM as part of a consortium before
buying out its partners in 1996. In 1994 it expanded its
local radio interests through acquisition of stations
in Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Coventry
Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn.
During the following year GWR absorbed the Chiltern Group,
with stations in Gloucester, Luton, St Albans, Bedford,
Milton Keynes and Northampton, taking its licences to
28. The statutory cewiling on station ownership was 35
licences: GWR sold the King's Lynn and St Albans stations
in 1997. It then acquired East Anglian Radio (stations
in Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and Colchester) and
Radio Wyvern in Hereford and Worcester.
In 1999 GWR acquired Orchard Media (four independent radio
licences, including Orchard FM, Gemini FM and Westward
Radio) and Lantern FM (Dorset, Devon and Somerset). The
same year saw purchase of Plymouth Sound from The Local
Radio Company.
In 2000 it acquired DMG Radio from Daily Mail & General
Trust, adding stations in St Albans, Southend-on-Sea,
Harlow and Crawley. The deal gave DMGT
a stake of around 29%. GWR then acquired Marcher Radio,
with stations in Bangor, Colwyn Bay, Birkenhead and Wrexham.
GWR sought to expand overseas, both independently and
in alliance with DMGT (notably through a 25% stake in
the latter's Australian radio operations). In Europe it
acquired 48% of Sofia-based FM Plus. It became the majority
shareholder in Digital One, holding the licence to operate
the UK national digital radio network, and created Now
Digital as a wholly owned subsidiary for local digital
licences. GWR held 30% of the Digital Radio Group, operator
of the third London digital radio multiplex.
Capital
Capital originated as a London commercial radio station
(a music and news format), with what is now known as Capital
FM being launched in 1973. The station was subsequently
allowed to operate separate AM and FM services.
Changing regulatory regimes enabled Capital to acquire
other UK commercial radio stations (for example Red Dragon
FM from EMAP in 1998 and the Century
group of stations through the £146 million takeover
of Border Television in 2000), launch new FM stations
and initiate digital-only radio broadcasting. A foray
into restaurant operations - notably through the Havana
chain - was less successful.
At the time of its merger with GWR it controlled 22 analogue
radio and 59 digital radio licences.
studies
There have been no major studies of GCap Media, Capital
or GWR.
 next
page (GCap Media holdings)
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