Current Account has often wondered why Ireland's radio and television stations have to operate under such a cloak of protection from acquisition.
What makes radio stations so special that we have to employ a State agency to decide what can be taken over and by whom? The IRTC probably felt it had no option but to block Ulster TV's takeover of County Media, given its remit and the legislative framework it operates within.
But why when Scottish Radio bought the Kilkenny People, the Leitrim Observer and Ireland on Sunday and when Trinity Mirror bought the Sunday Business Post and the Derry Journal, was there not a clamour about maintaining local media in local ownership?
Quite simply, what makes ownership of one sort of media asset - radio and television - subject to scrutiny from a quango like the IRTC, when other media assets - newspapers - come under no such scrutiny other than the usual monopoly and merger investigations.
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