Virgin Radio Sold To Times of India Publisher For $106 Million |
| Published: June 1, 2008, 3:38 am |
| Tags: 474, 519, 230 |
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Indian media company Bennett, Coleman & Co, owner of Times of India newspaper, has made its biggest international buy: it has bought out UK's Virgin Radio for about $106 million. SMG, the Scottish broadcaster, owner of Virgin Radio (it bought the company in 2000), sold the national AM licence and FM London licence to TIML Golden Square, a subsidiary of Bennett Coleman, and Absolute Radio, an Irisg radio investor and consultancy, reports FT. This is B&C's first international acquisition and its first step towards an ambitious vision of creating a new music entertainment brand for the UK, the story says. This deal may also be one of the largest ever done by an Indian media company outside of India. But, the brand name will not be part of the sale, as Richard Branson-owned Virgin Group objected to it. Bennett Coleman competes with the Hindustan Times group, with which Virgin Group has a joint venture in India. So, TIML and Absolute will invest about $30 million in rebranding the [ Full article ] |
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