New Delhi: HT Media’s Radio arm has acquired a 51% stake in Next Mediaworks, through its subsidiary Next Radio Ltd that operates stations across major metros under the Radio One brand.HT Media owns the popular Hindi radio channels Fever FM and Radio Nasha, with a dominant presence in the metros.
It operates two stations each in Delhi and Mumbai and one each in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad. Next Radio operates seven stations of Radio One across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad.
Radio One operates three stations in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru that play English music and four—in Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad—that play Bollywood music.
On 18th April HT Media revealed that the acquisition of Radio One would make it the strongest radio company in the fast-growing metro markets. Alongside its current metro strength of eight stations, HT Media will not only add an additional station each to its top five metros but also the key metro market of Pune to its network.
“This acquisition aims to provide the widest array of content, music and advertising options for our listeners and advertisers. Needless to mention, the combined setup will provide growth opportunities for the talented employees on both sides. The company is now detailing out the synergies of operations both at the front and the back end,” said Harshad Jain, CEO (Radio and Entertainment) of HT Media.With a strong focus on top cities including Pune, We will become a dominant metro-centric media company, looking to have the lion’s share in listenership and revenues,” he added
