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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
4 2 July 2016
R
upert Murdoch’s proposed move to
buy up the Wireless Group (formerly
UTV’s non-television assets) as June
drew to a close has livened up the
stolid Irish radio market with the
introduction of a sharp new player.
The cash offer of 315p per share has added
summer excitement to a radio market so settled
in its ways that the highlights of Newstalk’s new
Autumn schedule, announced just days before,
were the addition of crime journalist Paul Wil-
liams to the morning line-up, and George
Hook’s move from the evening drivetime show
to a lunchtime slot, as the station once more
persuades its heaviest hitter to postpone his
retirement.
On the face of it, the purchase of a handful of
regional radio stations should not trouble
national broadcasters Newstalk and RTE much,
but with prospects in Dublin (FM104), Cork
(96FM), Limerick (Live95FM) and Galway
(Galway Bay FM), Murdoch’s NewsCorp now has
an on-air presence in all Ireland’s major urban
radio markets. The offer, which values the
entire company at £220.3m, represents a pre-
mium of 70% over the quoted price at close of
business the day before the offer.
The jewel in the crown is undoubtedly talk-
SPORT, a London-based sports-radio network,
which holds valuable football broadcasting
rights. The radio deal, which adds to Murdoch’s
existing presence in the Irish market through
ownership of the Sunday Times and Sun news-
papers, and online news agency Storyful, will
have to be cleared by competition authorities
in both the UK and Ireland, and by the Broad-
casting Authority of Ireland, which looks at how
“plurality” is affected.
However, it is unlikely that the deal will face
any serious regulatory hurdles in Ireland. A
review of media-mergers procedures, which
began in 2008 and continued under the last
government, led to a set of guidelines pub
-
lished in May 2015 which seem unlikely to
hinder the proposed deal. By way of illustration
of the Irish view of media controls, the Irish
Times deferentially reported on July 1, the day
after the NewsCorp announcement, that an
independent report commissioned by the
Broadcasting Authority of Ireland into media
ownership and diversity had concluded that
”the decision by businessman Denis O’Brien to
increase his stake in Independent News and
Media (INM) did not lead to a ‘material reduc-
tion in plurality’”.
Between 2012 and 2014 O’Brien increased
his stake in INM from 22% to 29.9%. In contrast,
an unpublished report to the EU commission,
obtained by RTÉ’s 'This Week' programme in
April, studied media plurality in Ireland and 18
other EU states, and found Ireland was exposed
to a “high risk” of concentration in media own-
ership, as a result of a lack of specific legal
barriers to concentrated ownership.
In fact, by introducing a strong new force to
the Irish market, with interests in both print and
broadcast assets, NewsCorp could argue that
it is a boon to competition, offering a space for
alternative voices to those on stations owned
by O’Brien’s Communicorp and the state
broadcaster.
“The Wireless Group represents an opportu-
nity for us to take advantage of its strong radio
presence to build on our growing digital suc-
cess story and to bring some of the best
journalistic and broadcasting talent into one
group”, said News UK's famous chief executive,
Rebekah Brooks, "This acquisition will allow us
to increase engagement for both businesses
through the cross-promotion of our brands and
the use of our respective talent. We also look
forward to collaborating in the expansion of the
Wireless Group's digital audio and international
assets, which offer new opportunities for our
businesses in the UK and globally".
That cross-promotion should mean, at the
very least, lots of voices from the Sunday Times
and Sun newspapers on air, discussing the
latest developments in everything from politics
and show business to crime and sports. With
its portfolio of Irish radio properties in hand,
NewsCorp could find itself in a position to make
a credible bid for a national licence in future BAI
rounds.
This would present a real challenge to the
RTÉ/NewsTalk duopoly. Or NewsCorp could con-
sider newly syndicated programming in the
meantime, perhaps providing a central lunch-
time or drivetime programme with a national
news focus, broadcast on several stations
simultaneously. RTÉ has the brand strength to
see off such competition, even if it does lose
some listeners to the newcomers, but suddenly
Newstalk has a much bigger problem than who
to hire to replace Ivan Yates and George Hook.
Wireless is
Wiremore
NewsCorp critically now has
a presence in all Ireland’s
major urban radio markets
by Gerard Cunningham
MEDIA
Ireland is exposed
to a “high risk”of
concentration in media
ownership, as a result of
a lack of specific legal
barriers to concentrated
ownership
Here's Rupert
