GCap Media: 2005 – 2008 

1 April 2008 tbs.pm/878

So it’s finally happened – GCap has succumbed to Global Media, with the company being sold for £375m.

It brings to an end the anti-DAB reign of terror of GCap CEO Fru Hazzlit, and the demise of the ill-fated merger of Capital Radio and GWR where cost cutting saw large drops in audience and advertising revenue, rumours of GWR staff revolt, aborted sales of stations and the demise of most of the senior management.

What happens next is now in the hands of Global Radio. Competition concerns will inevitably lead to the sale of some stations in certain areas (between it, the combined Global/GCap will own a five of the nine major FM stations in London for example, as well as three stations in Birmingham) however generally there was limited overlap between the two. Then there are the questions of the XFM and Planet Rock disposals.

Global is, however, a privately owned company. It does not have to appease masses of shareholders, and has different rules to follow from the publicly quoted GCap. It can just get on with repairing a tattered company.

Shame it all happened too late to save theJazz however, which closed yesterday.