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The FM local commercial radio licence for the town of Ballymena and the immediately surrounding area was awarded on 9 June 2005 to Ballymana Broadcasting Ltd (‘Seven Towers FM’).

Ballymena licence award decision

When the Ballymena licence was advertised in January, we stated that, given the small population coverage afforded by the licence, Ofcom would be likely to place particular emphasis on the ability of each applicant to maintain its proposed service for the duration of the licence period (Section 105(a) of the 1990 Broadcasting Act).

As a 'smaller' licence serving a locality which is not the sole focus (in editorial terms) of any existing service, we also said that Ofcom was likely to consider speech content to be more important than music proposals in assessing Section 105(c) - the extent to which each applicant would broaden the range of local commercial radio services available in the area, and that 105(c) might be considered less significant overall than Section 105(b) - the applicants' ability to cater for local tastes and interests.

In respect of Section 105 (d) - the extent to which there is evidence of local demand or support for a proposed service - we said that non research-based evidence of local support would be likely to be considered alongside evidence of demand.

We also noted that this guidance is subject to discretion, and that Ofcom will always consider each of the four statutory criteria when making a licence award.

In considering the applications in relation to Section 105(a), Ofcom's Radio Licensing Committee (RLC) considered that, although Seven Towers FM’s revenue and cost projections are ambitious, the station’s ownership by two well-established Northern Ireland media owners – including the Alpha Newspaper Group, publisher of the Ballymena Guardian – provides it with a particularly impressive level of funding together with direct experience of the local Ballymena advertising market. The station’s board of directors featured a good mixture of business and radio experience, and RLC members noted the significant role that two of Seven Towers FM’s directors have played in the considerable success achieved to date by two recently-launched small-scale stations in the Republic of Ireland.

With regard to Sections 105 (b) and (c), RLC members felt that the speech commitments contained in Seven Towers FM’s Format, such as seven-day local news provision, live sports commentary and the plans to broadcast half-hour special interest programmes, would cater for local tastes and interests and would greatly improve the availability of Ballymena-specific news and other kinds of information for listeners in the area.

The RLC considered that, in relation to Section 314 of the Communications Act 2003, Seven Towers FM’s programming proposals contained a suitable proportion of local material and locally-made programmes. The station will be locally produced and presented 24 hours per day, and – as previously noted – its Format includes commitments to deliver a wide range of local material.

With regard to Section 105(d), the RLC felt that the group demonstrated a wide range of local support for its proposals, and noted that Seven Towers was the only applicant to conduct a Ballymena-specific survey of potential advertisers. The group’s market research utilised a wide range of methodologies to illustrate support for its proposals although some of the sample sizes used were somewhat small.

The following pages set out the statutory requirements relating to radio licensing, and the licensing process. Further information about these, and detailed information relating to the applications for the Ballymena licence, can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/car/ifmapps/

• Local Commercial Radio Licence Award: Ballymena [pdf]
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