1 June 2023

Ofcom fines Bauer Radio £25,000

Ofcom has fined Bauer Radio £25,000 after it stopped broadcasting Absolute Radio’s national AM service before the end of its licence period.

Absolute Radio’s AM licence was most recently renewed for a period of 10 years from May 2021. On 26 January 2023, Bauer Radio confirmed that Absolute Radio was no longer being broadcast on AM, so Ofcom revoked the licence on 13 February 2023. Absolute Radio continues to be broadcast nationally on DAB.

Under the Broadcasting Act 1990, where Ofcom revokes a national licence, it must require the licence holder to pay it a financial penalty.

In setting the level of financial penalty, we took account of Bauer’s reasoning for stopping the AM service, which included declining listener numbers on AM and the commercial viability of the service.

The financial penalty is payable to HM Treasury.

You can read our decision on the level of financial penalty and our licence revocation notice (PDF, 369.6 KB) in full.

Related content