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06|09|07

Ofcom awards new local digital radio multiplex licence for Northeast Wales and West Cheshire

Ofcom today announces the award of the new local Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio multiplex licence to cover Northeast Wales and West Cheshire.

This is one of a number of new local radio multiplex licences planned to develop DAB coverage for services in those parts of the country not already served. This licensing process will lead to a significant expansion in digital radio services throughout the UK.

By the closing date of 9 May 2007, Ofcom received two applications for the Northeast Wales and West Cheshire licence. After giving careful consideration to the applications submitted, the Ofcom Radio Licensing Committee has decided to award the licence to:

MuxCo Northeast Wales and West Cheshire Ltd
96a Curtain Road, London EC2A 3AA
Contact: Gregory Watson, Tel: 07917 413700, Email: gregory@muxco.com

The shareholders of MuxCo Northeast Wales and West Cheshire are as follows:

Dee 106.3 Ltd	25%
UTV Radio (GB) Ltd	25%
Town & Country Broadcasting Ltd	25%
MuxCo Ltd	25%

MuxCo Northeast Wales and West Cheshire is proposing to provide seven local digital sound programme services, in addition to BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, as follows:

Format description	Service name	Provider
Contemporary	Marcher Sound	GCap Media plc
Gold	Gold	GCap Media plc
Contemporary	Dee 106.3	Dee 106.3 Ltd.
New music, chart and dance	107.6 Juice FM	UTV Radio (GB) Ltd.
Easy	Easy Radio	Easy Radio Ltd.
Full service	Wales Live	Town & Country Broadcasting Ltd.
Variety pop & rock	Jack FM	Absolute Radio International Ltd.

Ofcom estimates that this licence could achieve coverage of an area with an adult (aged 15+) population of around 647,000.

The licence will be issued for a twelve year period. MuxCo is committed to launching its service by August 2008.

Ofcom will publish a statement setting out the key determining factors for the award of this licence shortly.

Ends.

Notes for Editors

1. DAB radio multiplexes carry a number of stereo and/or mono radio channels, as well as multimedia services such as text and data.

2. Today's licence is part of a wider licensing process which will lead to a significant expansion in local and national DAB radio services over the next three years. Further details can be found within Ofcom's 'Future licensing of DAB digital radio' Statement at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/dab/statement/.

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