The Contract Awards Committee of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has confirmed there are no competitive bids for the licence currently used by Classic Hits.
The BAI will now invoke the fast-track process, as the incumbent was the only company to express an interest in applying for the licence.
The fast-track process can be invoked by the Committee when only one expression of interest, from an incumbent sound broadcasting contractor, is received following a call for expressions of interest. Such a call was made by the BAI in November of this year and no additional expressions of interest were made.
The BAI has placed a notification of same on its website and in the national press on the 21st February 2019. The Committee will meet in April to consider any submissions received pursuant to the notification and determine the next phase in the licensing process for the multi-city music driven service.
The service is to target an audience aged 45+ in Dublin City & County & commuter belt, Cork City & County, Limerick City & County, Country Clare, and Galway City & County. The nature of the music to be provided on the service is to be one or a combination of the following music formats: Classic Gold, Easy Listening, and Smooth music.