UTV win Licence for New Freeview Radio Station for Northern Ireland

[Deleted User] · 07/03/05 - 18:52

UTV wins Belfast radio licence

U105, owned by UTV, has been awarded the licence for a new radio station for the greater Belfast area.

Announcing the decision Ofcom said they had received 11 bids for the licence.

"After giving careful consideration to each of the applications submitted, the Ofcom Radio Licensing Committee has decided to award the licence to U105, owned by Ulster Television PLC. "

"It will provide a personality-led station aimed primarily at the over 45 age group in Belfast and the surrounding area. It will offer topical speech and music, from the Gold era to the present day, t o an adult population (aged 15+) of around 750,000. However, the exact coverage will be determined by the location of the transmission site and other technical characteristics. "

The licence will be issued for a twelve year period.

UTV said it was delighted by the announcement.

Roy Bailie, Chairman of U105 said: “We are absolutely thrilled to win this licence against stiff competition from local, national and international radio groups.

“U105 will appeal primarily to those aged over 45 living in Belfast and the surrounding area, an audience underserved by existing stations. Seven out of ten listeners in this age group do not currently listen to local commercial radio, and we plan to change that with U105, which aims to be on air by early 2006.

U105 will broadcast on 105.1 FM to Belfast and the surrounding area, and on the Freeview digital TV platform to all of Northern Ireland.

Full Story here: http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=57566&pt=n

[Deleted User] · 08/03/05 - 10:58

This is interesting and will be a first for Northern Ireland in freeview terms as it will make Northern Ireland the only place in the UK to have local commerical radio on freeview.

I wonder if it will be broadcast on the D3&4 multiplex on some of UTV's space or if it will be on another mux?

[Deleted User] · 08/03/05 - 18:08

Will it be available accross england if so, wht mux and channel number

[Deleted User] · 08/03/05 - 19:01

Phillbaker wrote:

Will it be available accross england if so, wht mux and channel number

judging by that report, it will only be available in Northern Ireland

[Deleted User] · 08/03/05 - 19:56

I thought you missed the 'T' out

TUTV ? LOL

[Deleted User] · 08/03/05 - 20:04

079700 wrote:

I thought you missed the 'T' out

TUTV ? LOL

did you have palpitations?

russellelly · 08/03/05 - 22:21

Redcoat wrote:

I guess SMG could pull off something similar with their radio stations, but ITVwould be different - they don't own any radio stations AFAIK.

i've always found it a little odd that Virgin hasn't made its way to D3+4 in Scotland, but then again despite its owners, Virgin is primarily a UK station, and to be on a small minority of Freeview transmitters would be a bit messy. The line "On Freeview Channel 93 - Scotland Only" before the news would just sound daft.

System · 08/03/05 - 23:30

Silly to call the station U105 when it's actually on 105.1 MHz.

[Deleted User] · 09/03/05 - 09:00

Silly to call the station U105 when it's actually on 105.1 MHz.

Well the ILR station for Cornwall and West Devon is called Pirate FM 102 despite being on 102.2 and 102.8

[Deleted User] · 09/03/05 - 10:21

U105 .... another excuse to have a (permanent) delete channel function on the DVTA if ITV1 Ulster is anything to go by with its crappy rebadging of every ITV1 promo, crappy continuity, crappy shuffle of network shows to accomodate some fat cnut with a beard interviewing c-lists on a Friday ...... nnnnnnnnooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

nexty2 · 09/03/05 - 12:05

I don't find UTV "crappy." I think the channel indents are good. I know that the Kelly show ("the man with the beard") is a bit of a waste of space on Friday evening but someone must watch it. UTV is hardly that much different from any other ITV region.

Hey there!

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UTV win Licence for New Freeview Radio Station for Northern Ireland

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