Interview: Virgin Radio President Grace Says New Owners ‘Out Of Their Depth’ In UK Market

imageIn May 2008, in one of the biggest acquisition of an overseas property by an Indian media company, TIML Golden Square Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd, the publisher of The Times of India, paid 52.3 million pounds, or Rs448 crore at the time, to acquire Virgin Radio of London from the Scottish Media Group. The station broadcasts on FM in London and on AM across UK. The transaction was followed closely in the Indian and UK media and the station, now rebranded Absolute Radio, after the Irish management company that co-operates the station, was in news again last week when the latest listenership numbers showed a downward trend.

Ian Grace used to program this station before Virgin Radio sold it to Scottish Media Group, and the station had 4.2 million listeners when SMG bought it in 2000-01. The station continued to operate under the Virgin brand name till last year, when TIML acquired the station from SMG.

As president of Virgin Radio International, Grace is responsible for radio operations in eight countries. In India, the Virgin brand is on air in four cities

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