The Stage

Channel 4 to challenge BBC with ten new radio stations

Published Friday 6 July 2007 at 12:15 by Matthew Hemley

A consortium led by Channel 4 has won the licence to launch ten new national digital radio stations.

4 Digital Group, which includes Channel 4 Radio, Sky News Radio, Emap and Virgin Radio owner SMG, beat rival bidder National Grid Wireless to win the new 12-year licence.

It will now start work on preparing its ten-station offering, which includes two speech-based stations.

One of these will be Channel 4 Radio, which is expected to rival the BBC in terms of its comedy and drama output and launch a soap to compete with The Archers on BBC Radio 4.

Channel 4 will also launch a further two branded radio stations: E4 Radio and Pure4.

Other radio stations in the line-up include Closer Radio, based on Emap’s magazine Closer, and a Virgin-branded station aimed at young women.

Ofcom said the consortium had also proposed to provide a “wide selection of podcasts provided by a range of diverse companies”.

It said eight of the ten national digital services will be launched within 12 months and two further national stations will launch “at the earliest opportunity thereafter”.