Dutch Arrow group denies it is in serious financial difficulties

Crosspoints BV, which owns the Dutch commercial stations Arrow Classic Rock, Arrow Jazz FM, and plans to start a third station, Arrow Talks, on mediumwave is rumoured to be in serious financial difficulties, but this has been strongly denied by the company’s director, Ad Ossendrijver.

A spokesperson for the Dutch Radiocommunications Agency has told the website RadioFreak that it has begun legal proceedings against the company for non-payment of its licence fees to the government. An Agency spokesperson would not confirm the amount, but RadioFreak says there are rumours that it could be as high as 10 million euro.

The costs of the licences are about one million euro a year for Arrow Jazz FM and four million for Arrow Classic Rock. The planned new mediumwave service will be relatively cheap, at 11,000 euro a year.

However, Ad Ossendrijver denies that there is a financial problem or even that the station is behind with its licence payments, and says he’s surprised at what the Radiocommunications Agency spokesperson has said.

According to Mr Ossendrijver, there’s a certain party in the radio market that is trying to discredit Arrow, but he would not say who it is. He did, however, say that he will take his own legal action against them for trying to blacken Arrow’s name.

The rumours have been heightened by the failure so far to launch Arrow Talks on 828 kHz, the licence for which was issued in March this year. However Mr Ossendrijver says that the station will launch at the beginning of 2009. He says he has been busy with organising the content and recruiting staff, and that the end of the year is not a good time to launch a new radio station.

If the station does not launch within 12 months of the licence being issued, the licence automatically lapses.

Source: Media Network, RadioFreak.nl