One more thing

Countdown towards 4FM launch; plan for transatlantic service hits turbulence; operator of Dublin airport’s Terminal 2 not yet known; David Harvey may postpone Budapest TV service

4FM team have been around the block

RECESSION OR not, the countdown continues towards the launch of 4FM, the country’s latest commercial radio station.

Led by radio veteran Martin Block, who headed Dublin station Lite FM (now Q102) before its sale to UTV, the multi-city station is due on air in late February and has secured some experienced voices to host its shows.

Former 2FM jock Gareth O’Callaghan will host the breakfast show from 6am on weekday mornings. O’Callaghan, who has also enjoyed success as a novelist, has spent the past couple of years living in the west, where he had a slot with Galway Bay FM.

Former RTÉ presenter and City Channel founder David Harvey will also have a show along with Bill Hughes, an independent TV producer.

4FM, whose backers include

The Irish Times

, is believed to have lined up other current and former RTÉ broadcasters, who are being kept under wraps.

The new station will broadcast to Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Clare and Galway with an easy listening mix of music, entertainment and talk for the 40-plus age group.

4FM originally planned to launch last year but was thwarted by delays in securing a premises and technical issues. It is now launching into the teeth of the worst recession in living memory and into an already crowded commercial radio market.

That said, its assumptions on revenues in the first couple of years are reasonably conservative while its executive team – which also includes programme director Al Dunne – have been round the block, so to speak.

4FM’s financial projections submitted in its application to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland forecast accumulated losses of €5.5 million in its first three years on air and a small profit in year four of €304,000. Revenues in year one are projected at €2.2 million, rising to €3.7 million in its second year.

It hopes to get 150,000 listeners a week in its first year and a 5 per cent share of all adults. It’ll be a tall order, but here’s hoping Block’s retro playlist can lift the mood of the nation.

Mannion's transatlantic service hits turbulence

DERMOT MANNION’S plan to launch a transatlantic service from Washington to Madrid in conjunction with United Airlines appears to have hit significant turbulence in America.

News of the partnership, which is due to take to the skies in the spring of 2010, had barely broken before the Air Line Pilots Association in the US had issued a rocket to both airlines.

To recap, Aer Lingus and United will operate a daily flight from Washington to Madrid next year with a view to launching two additional transatlantic services before possibly setting up a formal joint venture involving an expanded network of routes.

The aircraft used will be decked in Aer Lingus livery and be staffed by crew from the Irish airline, who will be recruited in the US. Mannion described it as a “ground-breaking agreement” for Aer Lingus.

Capt Steve Wallach, chairman, United Master Executive Council, Air Line Pilots Association, saw it in rather different terms, in light of United’s losses and plans to cut 1,000 jobs by the end of 2008.

“The day after reporting one of its worst quarterly financial results in history and after furloughing an additional 254 pilots (bringing the total to 606 pilots), United Airlines announced that it has entered into what it calls an ‘innovative’ partnership with Aer Lingus,” Capt Wallach said in a statement.

“Aer Lingus has advised the Irish press that this joint venture will operate an Aer Lingus aircraft with neither United nor Aer Lingus employees, under a separate operating certificate and under newly-established wages and working conditions.

“Obviously, this partnership will be accomplished at the expense of United’s and Aer Lingus own pilots and other employees.

“This development, where United attempts to establish an airline operation without the use of United aircraft or employees, is nothing less than the outsourcing of jobs to an international company, and clearly demonstrates that this management continues to make business decisions without regard to its pilots and other employees.

“The United pilots are exploring every option to put an end to the companys blatant disregard and lack of loyalty to the United Airlines brand.”

On this side of the pond, trade union Impact, which represents Irish pilots, has said it is studying the deal.

In the words of Nat King Cole, there may be trouble ahead. Whether Aer Lingus and United face the music and dance remains to be seen.

Aviation regulator still up in the air on Dublin's T2

IN ABOUT 15 months’ time, Terminal 2 (T2) at Dublin airport will open its doors to business, yet we still don’t know who will operate this shiny new facility.

Aviation regulator Cathal Guiomard some months ago began the process to determine airport charges from 2010 onwards, a process he hopes to have wrapped up by September.

But the vacuum over T2 has left Guiomard operating somewhat in the dark. He has no idea who will run T2, which airlines will use the facility, or how it will dovetail with the existing terminal building.

At this stage, any pricing exercise by him on T2 will have to be a theoretical one.

Last year, the Government appointed a small team of advisers to help it decide on choosing an operator for T2, but to date no tender has appeared.

Given the current economic climate, it is hard to imagine a long queue of groups seeking to operate T2.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) this week flagged that passengers numbers in 2009 could fall by up to 4 per cent from the record 23.5 million recorded last year. That could yet turn out to be an optimistic view.

In addition, any private operator would find itself in the position where it is effectively competing with its landlord.

In a classic political fudge earlier this decade, the Government mandated DAA to build T2, but postponed a decision on who would operate the facility.

This was in the face of pressure from Ryanair, which campaigned for a privately built, competing terminal to be built.

DAA has spent hundreds of millions of euro building T2 from its own resources and, not unreasonably, would want a return on this investment. In addition, DAA would continue to run the existing terminal building.

The DAA also controls access to the runway. Given all those conditions, it is hard to see how effective competition could be brought to bear at Dublin airport.

One model the Government’s advisers might consider is appointing a facilities management group to run T2, possibly under DAA contract. This would likely be responsible for cleaning, maintenance, customer service and security.

It could be a neat solution, although it probably wouldn’t find favour with Michael O’Leary, not to mention the trade unions.

As British Airways found with Heathrow’s Terminal 5, “familiarisation” is a lengthy process that cannot be compromised.

Whatever decision is reached, it needs to be made quickly.

Budapest TV plans may be delayed - Harvey

MEDIA ENTREPRENEUR David Harvey looks set to postpone plans to launch a cable television channel in Budapest, Hungary, due to the global economic slump, which has shredded advertising budgets.

Called City 7, the new station was to be an offshoot of his Dublin-based City Channel station, which went live in October 2005 and is thought to be “washing its face” financially.

Harvey had, for the Hungarian project, teamed up with Liberty Global, his fellow investors in City Channel and the owners of cable television operator UPC.

The two parties have sunk about €500,000 into the venture to date and secured a licence to broadcast.

Six people have been hired locally in Hungary to help run the operation. They had originally hoped to launch the station last year.

“We haven’t made a definite decision yet, but there’s a lot of pain being felt out there – there’s no point in trying to pretend otherwise,” Harvey told me.

“If we decide to postpone I think it will be a prudent thing to do right now.”

As in Ireland, UPC has significant cable TV operations in Hungary, and City 7 would have been available in about 400,000 homes there.

Liberty Global paid about €2 million in 2007 for a 35 per cent stake in City Channel and is also a significant equity holder in the Hungarian venture.

As for City Channel’s Irish operation – which has three channels around the State providing local programming to more than 500,000 homes – Harvey is sanguine.

“We are going to have a good January and a good February, but we had a lousy December, when nobody was spending . . . it’s very tough out there.”

Little things

Rex Comb’s decision to pack up his bags in June and return to Melbourne could have far-reaching consequences for Eircom’s customer service.

Speaking to me earlier this week about the reasons behind his decision to step down from the telco, Comb revealed his hands-on approach to dealing with customer complaints, which involved ringing subscribers at the weekend to talk through their problems. “I like to pick up the phone and speak to them directly,” he said. “They get a shock when they hear from me. I get a few complaints but it’s all part of the job.”

How many calls would he place? “On average, two to five calls at the weekend.” And how does his wife feel about him spending his weekends calling angry customers? “She knows it’s part of the job.”

Comb plans to explore Ireland before heading home with his family. “I might get on the bike and see a bit of Ireland and see the things that my wife has already seen. I love bike-riding and this is a great country to look around.”

QUITE A FEW

bottles of Miller beer must have been consumed at Dublin-based Richmond Marketing this week after it landed the plum deal to sell and distribute the lager here.

Owned by SABMiller, the lager is Ireland’s biggest selling bottled beer, with sales worth about €80 million annually at wholesale level. It is believed to have accounted for more than two-thirds of Beamish Crawford’s revenues before the Cork brewer was acquired recently by Heineken. Beamish also brewed Miller here.

Richmond is believed to have beaten off competition from Heineken and CC to win the lucrative contract.

It already handles Pilsner Urquell and Peroni Nastro Azzurro for SAB, in addition to looking after the Red Bull, Evian and Volvic brands.

SINGAPORE-BASED

low cost airline Tiger Airways, which is backed by the family of the late Tony Ryan, has dropped plans to launch an associate carrier in South Korea.

Plans for the new airline were announced in 2007, and Tiger, which was to have held a minority stake, has pulled out due to the economic uncertainty and “regulatory uncertainty”.

WITH PHARMA

giants Wyeth and Pfizer planning to merge their global operations, one reader has kindly suggested a couple of names for the new entity – Wyzer and WyPfi. Boom boom.