Competition Commission ruling ordering the sale of stations in seven areas of the UK upheld by appeal tribunal
Ashley Tabor's Global Radio has lost its appeal against a Competition Commission ruling ordering a wholesale sell-off of stations following its £70m takeover of GMG Radio.
Global Radio took its case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal after regulators ruled it must sell stations in seven areas of the UK to appease competition concerns over the GMG purchase, including Real and Smooth Radio.
The CAT announced on Friday that it had dismissed the appeal, lodged by Global after the Competition Commission ruling in May.
The appeal defeat is a big blow for Global after it had originally offered to sell just three stations in response to the commission's provisional findings.
The only areas in which the GMG deal was cleared were in London and the West Midlands.
In all of the other areas affected – East Midlands, Cardiff, North Wales, Greater Manchester and the north-west, the north-east, central Scotland, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire – the commission ruled that Global had to sell either a Real or Smooth station, or one of its own services, such as Heart or Capital.
The forced sell-off means Global may be lucky to recoup half of the £70m-plus it cost to buy GMG Radio.
Global bought the stations in June last year in an 11th-hour bidding war with arch-rival Bauer, which recently bought Planet Rock and Absolute Radio.
Global Radio had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
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Ashley Tabor's Global Radio has lost its appeal against a Competition Commission ruling ordering a wholesale sell-off of stations following its £70m takeover of GMG Radio.
Global Radio took its case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal after regulators ruled it must sell stations in seven areas of the UK to appease competition concerns over the GMG purchase, including Real and Smooth Radio.
The CAT announced on Friday that it had dismissed the appeal, lodged by Global after the Competition Commission ruling in May.
The appeal defeat is a big blow for Global after it had originally offered to sell just three stations in response to the commission's provisional findings.
The only areas in which the GMG deal was cleared were in London and the West Midlands.
In all of the other areas affected – East Midlands, Cardiff, North Wales, Greater Manchester and the north-west, the north-east, central Scotland, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire – the commission ruled that Global had to sell either a Real or Smooth station, or one of its own services, such as Heart or Capital.
The forced sell-off means Global may be lucky to recoup half of the £70m-plus it cost to buy GMG Radio.
Global bought the stations in June last year in an 11th-hour bidding war with arch-rival Bauer, which recently bought Planet Rock and Absolute Radio.
Global Radio had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook. Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.
