The Sunday Telegraph reports that the company which owns half of Britain’s radio and TV masts is offering to slash its prices in a move that could secure regulatory approval for its £2.5bn merger with rival National Grid Wireless and provide a major fillip to Britain’s troubled commercial radio industry.
Arqiva - which is owned by Macquarie, the Australian bank - is pledging to cut the cost of transmitting all radio stations by an average of 15 percent if the merger is approved, according to commercial radio sources.
The BBC and commercial radio spend a combined £100m a year broadcasting radio in FM, AM and digital formats. The BBC’s contract is with National Grid Wireless, but the offer of a price cut is understood to apply to the BBC as well.
Broadcasters would also be able to cancel contracts for the first time, once capital costs have been recouped, with one year’s notice. The break clause would be introduced as part of new 10- or 12-year agreements. This would make it easier to shut down loss-making digital stations, or those broadcast in AM, which have a dwindling audience.
