Story from Radio Today:
SMG have sold 'Virgin Radio' to TIML Golden Square Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Times of India Group for £53 million and will spend a further £15 million on re-branding away from the Virgin name.The new station will be managed by Absolute Radio, owners of JACK fm and FM107.9 in Oxford, and a team comprising Media and Entertainment specialists from TIML.Part of the deal means the new owners will not be able to use the Virgin Radio brand because Richard Branson's group has a joint venture in India with the Hindustan Times group.They said the backers of Absolute bid would be in competition if they had internet rights to the brand.Virgin was concerned that having two Indian businesses with different relationships with Virgin Radio would be too confusing.However, RadioToday.co.uk understands TIML Golden Square Ltd have the option of continuing to use the Virgin Radio name in the UK, for a licence cost of a further £8million.TIML has 90 days from the completion of the sale to rebrand.