BUSINESSMAN DENIS O'Brien was in Dublin yesterday for the official signing of Today FM's second 10-year radio licence with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.
The licence was awarded last year, subject to a number of conditions, and will run until 2017. Mr O'Brien recently acquired Today FM as part of a €200 million deal to buy three radio stations here from UK media group Emap.
The wealthy entrepreneur declined to answer questions yesterday
in relation to remarks made last
week by Independent News & Media (INM), which described
Mr O'Brien as a "dissident shareholder".
Mr O'Brien also refused to comment on the Government's plan to
set up a commission to review
existing legislation in relation to cross-media
ownership.
Sir Anthony O'Reilly yesterday increased his shareholding in INM
to 26.75 per cent. He bought one
million shares at €2.08 each. Mr O'Brien owns about 21
per cent of INM and is the media company's second-biggest
shareholder.
He has criticised corporate governance at INM and called for Sir Anthony to step aside.
