Media&Marketing : The deputy chairman of Eircom, Con Scanlon, publican Louis Fitzgerald, Thomas Crosbie Holdings (the owner of the Irish Examiner), and Red FM are just some of the companies and people seeking to win the new youth radio licence for the south-west.
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) said there were three applicants for the licence yesterday. The first company is Spin FM, based at Grand Canal Quay, Dublin. The majority shareholder at this station is Denis O'Brien, a well-known player in the radio sector through 98 FM, NewsTalk 106 and East Coast FM.
The second group seeking the licence is Red FM South West. Red FM is an existing Cork-based station and the station has taken a 65 per cent share in the new consortium. Thomas Crosbie Holdings is taking an 8 per cent stake. Billy Ryan of the Limerick Post has a 9 per cent stake.
Dermot Hanrahan, former managing director of FM 104, is also involved in the Red FM application. He said his group had great experience to bring and had a very conservative business plan which envisaged losses for the first four years, before moving into the black. He expected an investment in the station of €4 million.
"Running and making a success of a youth station is very difficult. Its a different ball game than running a mainstream station," he said.
The third consortium is Fresh FM and it is the most diverse in terms of its backers.
Peter Benson, a radio executive who has spent time at 98 FM and Sky television, is believed to hold a 30 per cent stake in Fresh. Michael Lynch of Lynch Hotels has a 10 per cent stake and Louis Fitzgerald has a similar stake, a spokeswoman said. Other shareholders with lower stakes are John Conroy, a founder of Merrion Stockbrokers, and Con Scanlon, who is a former general secretary of the Communication Workers Union and now plays a pivotal role at Eircom. If oral hearings take place in the summer, it is possible the new station could be on air as soon as late 2006.
Murdoch web buy
News Corporation has continued its huge expansion into online media. The company, which is effectively controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has decided to buy into recruitment firm Simply Hired.
Unlike a traditional job site, Simply Hired just searches for jobs as Google would with any other piece of content. These types of web businesses tend to make more traditional investors nervous, because they are not backed up by significant tangible assets. But Murdoch is a canny investor and is building up web assets that could some day rival his old media businesses, like his various UK newspapers.
'City AM' finds niche
New newspaper ventures tend to be vulnerable entities, but a new free publication in London, the financial paper City AM, has proven there is an appetite for financial reporting and commentary.
The latest circulation data from the UK's Audit Bureau of Circulation shows the paper reaching a circulation figure of 76,094, which is very healthy for a niche product. A spokesman recently described the paper's pitch: "London has a clearly defined business and financial village. The Square Mile, Canary Wharf and other areas around central London make up City AM's parish, whose residents are some of the most intelligent and wealthy members of society."
Unfortunately these same wealthy members of society tend to be fickle. So while they are picking up free copies of City AM, they have been deserting the Financial Times in droves, although the trend has been somewhat arrested in recent weeks by Financial Times editor Lionel Barber.
Advert market shows growth
A survey this week from the advertising agency Initiative shows why so many media companies want to do business in the Republic right now.
The Republic is expected to increase the value of its advertising market by 7.9 per cent in 2006, the survey said.
The only countries which come near to this are Norway (7.4 per cent) and Sweden (7.7 per cent). In global terms the advertising market is also proving resilient with growth of 5.8 per cent expected in 2006, boosted by the Winter Olympics and the World Cup.
The World Cup will give an impulse in the German market, but the report says it will not have a long-term economic impact in the country.
Radio and the internet are the only media with growth above the global average. The internet stands to grow nearly 22.8 per cent in 2006.
The internet will be the fastest growing medium in all western European markets in 2006 except for Ireland, where TV is enjoying the highest growth.
eoliver@irish-times.ie
