The first auction of the national FM frequencies in twenty years is causing major shifts in the commercial radio market. Notable newcomer: Financial News Radio, a company led by internet entrepreneur Joost Zuurbier, who made his fortune in the domain name business. The big loser is Mediahuis, parent company of, among others NRC and The Telegraph. Mediahuis has to say goodbye to two frequencies, Minister Adriaansens (EZ and Climate) announced on Friday.
Talpa Radio was the only one to obtain three licenses and thus secured frequencies for Radio 10, Radio 538 and Sky Radio. DPG Media, as owner of NU.nl, among others, de Volkskrant and AD one of the largest players in the Dutch media sector, is expanding with an extra frequency.
The bidding war for nine available FM frequencies for commercial radio organizations started on Tuesday. The purpose of the auction was, among other things, to ensure more competition and innovation in the radio sector. Adriaansens in a letter to parliament: “With this new distribution, a sufficiently varied and innovative radio offer is created.” Looking at the new classification of the frequencies, the variation seems to have become smaller rather than larger. For example, the place of jazz station Sublime (Mediahuis) has been taken over by Financial News Radio, which, like BNR, mainly focuses on news for the business market.
Space through DAB+
But according to Remon Buter of media agency GroupM, there is sufficient diversity in the radio market due to the rise of digital DAB+ radio. “Small channels can survive just fine in a DAB+ world.” According to him, DAB+ explains why Mediahuis chose the frequencies for Sublime and Slam! could give up.
With the achievement of a second FM frequency, DPG Media’s “radio dream” has come true, says Robert Bernink, general manager of Qmusic. The exact implementation is not yet known. Although Mediahuis would have liked to have received three permits, Tom Klerkx, director of Audio Mediahuis, says he is satisfied. “Thanks to the result of the auction, our listeners will also be able to listen to Radio Veronica and 100% NL via FM in the coming years.” slam! and Sublime FM can only be listened to via the internet and digital radio (DAB+) from September. Sublime was taken over in October 2020 by NRC Media, which falls under Mediahuis. Then CEO Dominic Stas explained that the acquisition “fits perfectly with our growth ambition in the audio field”.
It was already certain that at least one of Mediahuis’ radio stations would disappear from the airwaves. Mediahuis still owns four commercial stations on the FM band, but the maximum number of frequencies that one organization may own was limited to three before the auction in order to give smaller stations a chance as well.
emergency extension
The auction yielded 152.8 million euros for the state treasury, more than double the minimum amount of 73.7 million euros that the government wanted to raise. Qmusic’s frequency was the most valuable and was bought by DPG Media for more than 27 million. Talpa was the largest investor: just under 60 million for the purchase of the three licenses.
The fact that media companies were prepared to pay a lot of money proves that the radio market remains interesting for investors despite the declining popularity of linear radio. “Radio is still most listened to via FM, so there is still a lot to earn from advertising income,” says Harald Hanemaaijer, spokesperson for EZ and Climate. The new permits run until 2035.
For a long time it was questionable whether the auction would take place. Originally, the permits, which were granted in 2003, were to be given an emergency extension until 2025. The ministry wanted to compensate media companies for the financial blows that radio stations have had as a result of the corona crisis. However, radio station KINK, with the support of DPG Media, forced the court to auction the FM frequencies again. Without success for the alternative music channel itself: KINK was unable to obtain a license in the radio auction.
A version of this article also appeared in the July 8, 2023 newspaper.