The auction of national commercial FM frequencies must be “completely over” if Talpa Network wins the lawsuit it has filed against the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Several channels said this to NOS.
Talpa has gone to court because it wants to get rid of the rule that one radio company may have a maximum of three air frequencies. “If you change the rules afterwards, the entire game will have to be played again,” says KINK director Jan Hoogesteijn about the lawsuit.
Maximum three lots
Last year, the commercial FM lots were auctioned again for a record amount of almost 153 million euros. Before the auction, Talpa still had four stations with a terrestrial frequency: Radio 538, Radio 10, Sky Radio and Radio Veronica. The latter was sold to the Belgian Mediahuis just before the auction, because Talpa was allowed to participate in the auction with a maximum of three lots.
John de Mol’s radio company is now challenging that decision in court. After the trial last week, Talpa said he “looks forward to the outcome with confidence”. The judge expects to make a ruling within six weeks.
Battle for listener
After the battle for FM frequencies, the battle for listeners has flared up in recent times. The FM auction has caused many shifts in the radio landscape. For example, Coen and Sander switched from Radio 538 to JOE, which managed to obtain an FM frequency.
Wouter van der Goes and Frank van ‘t Hof also switched from NPO Radio 2 to Radio Veronica at the beginning of this year, and Veronica is also removing Gerard Ekdom from Radio 10.
