Newstalk licence process fast-tracked as it is only interested party

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has announced it intends to fast-track the procedure to award the new licence for speech and news radio which Denis O’Brien’s Newstalk currently holds.

The decision to involve the fast-track procedure is a standard one, a spokesman for the BAI has said, because News 106 Ltd (the company behind Newstalk) is the only interested party at this juncture.

Earlier this year, the BAI invited expressions of interest in the 10-year licence. It is up for renewal next September.

News 106 Ltd, a subsidiary of Mr O'Brien's Communicorp, was the only company that made a submission. In cases where there is only one application, a fast-track procedure can be invoked under the Broadcasting Act 2009.

It is still open for any other interested party to submit an expression of interest but they must now do so before January 19th, 2016.

The licence has been held by News 106 since the station was founded in 2006.

Another licence up for renewal next year, the Dublin alternative rock music licence, attracted two expressions of interest, incumbent (TXFM, formerly Phantom) and another entity.