New sports radio for UK
February 9, 2015
Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie is looking to launch new national sports radio station a decade after he sold TalkSport. Sports Radio is one of a proposed lineup of services for the second wave of national commercial digital stations due to be licensed by media regulator Ofcom later this year.
The station, which is part of Listen2Digital’s bid to run the second national commercial multiplex, would put MacKenzie head to head with TalkSport, now owned by UTV Media.
MacKenzie said: “It’s been clear to me for some time that there’s room for another player in the sports radio market.”
MacKenzie said he had also applied to be part of the rival bid for the multiplex, a consortium of UTV, Bauer Media and Arqiva, but said he had been rebuffed. Listen2Digital’s backers include Phil Riley’s Orion Media and engineering services group, Babcock International.
UTV is proposing to launch three new stations of its own, including a talk radio service, a business station, and a sister station to TalkSport, TalkSport2.