ITV minority shareholder Ulster Television (UTV) has continued its push into radio by acquiring Dublin station Lite FM in a£9m deal, writes Steve Aston

ITV minority shareholder Ulster Television (UTV) has continued its push into radio by acquiring Dublin station Lite FM in a£9m deal, writes Steve Aston

Lite FM, which launched in May 2000, targets over-35s and has a share of around eight per cent of Dublin's market. The station made a loss of£840,000 for the 19 months to the end of December. UTV will take on debt of£800,000 as a result of the takeover.

UTV chief executive John McCann said that the purchase was part of the company's multimedia strategy. ?This is an important strategic move for UTV,' he added.

The purchase is also a further signal that UTV intends to build a radio empire pre-empting further consolidation of ITV.

Earlier this year, it bought Treaty Radio in Limerick for£9.72m. This followed last year's£13.2m purchase of Cork-based County Media, where the company took overall control of the radio group.

The moves mirror another minority ITV shareholder, SMG, which has taken a stake in Scottish Radio Holdings and operates Virgin Radio.

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