The way the Australian commercial radio cartel works is that they try to help each other out first to keep it within them before introducing a new player.
See the way single market owners are treated, out in the cold, the CRA cartel doesn’t want to know them unless they can buy them. Happy to take their membership fees yet will lobby against them in writing and in the corridors of Canberra.
We all know the double standards @AJ1 has been subjected to.
According to Jen Seyderhelm’s (2CA breakfast presenter) opinion piece on Radioinfo on whether 2022 will be the year for Classic Hits (see link), it appears that 2CA, along with 2CC, 2GN, Eagle FM & 6iX, are now fully owned by the Capital Radio Network, with Kevin Blyton having bought the other 50% of those stations from Grant.
So that could make Capital a contender to also purchasing 4KQ? You never know.
What happens to 6ix know!!
Seems a bit rushed to not attempt other outcomes there, unless it’s easier structurally for ARN to consider buying out Capital as a whole or buying stations like 6IX from them down the track, rather than dealing with untangling halves of stations.
Wonder why they didn’t just sell K-Rock/Bay to Capital as well, as I assume even if they resolved the joint ventures like this, there’d still be a rump of “Grant” owned stations to deal with.
Still, would kinda like a more direct source than an aside in an opinion piece, seems a very heavily buried lede.
Its quite common for Joint Venture agreements to have a buy out clause that allows one party to acquire the other’s interest according to some agreed pricing formula when certain trigger events occur (eg Grant’s exiting the radio business).
In contrast Grant’s maybe thinks they can get a better price for K-Rock and Bay by putting them on the market and they have no obligation to Capital.
So Capital and Grant closed out 2CA/2CC (and probably 6iX) as a done deal as part of clearing their slate. Doesn’t preclude Capital from buying K-Rock/Bay, but it may increase the price.
How I see what just happened in Canberra, ARN and SCA do not want to loose their Hit / Mix combination at any cost as they are the only two fm stations, and generally rate first and second in the ratings, and would earn the most revenue.
If Grant kept their 50% share of 2CA and 2CC it would have triggered a breach of the two station policy. SCA and ARN would not want to own one Fm and Am stations each or in a joint venture with Capital Radio.
So Capital Radio bought out Grant’s 50% share of 2CA / 2CC to maintain the status quo in the market.
On a side note, this relates more to the Canberra radio thread, but any speculation of Hit 104.7 becoming Triple M are long gone after the complete failure in Perth, and the recent improvement in share of Hit 104.7 in the most recent rating.
Technically, Capital Radio Network Pty Ltd is/was owned 50/50 between Grant Broadcasters and Kevin Blyton. Capital then owned Radio Canberra Pty Ltd and Radio Goulburn Pty Ltd.
Radio Perth Pty Ltd (6IX) was owned separately by Grant Broadcasters and Kevin Blyton. Together with Blyton’s 100% owned Snowy Mountains and Warragul stations they formed the Capital Radio Network.
Jen’s article mentions that Kevin bought out the other 50% of 2CA, which presumably would actually mean Capital Radio Network Pty Ltd, so the Canberra and Goulburn stations. This is acutally not surprising as Kevin once owned 100% of these stations and sold 50% to Grant Broadcasters.
Perth is not mentioned in the article, and any sale may not apply to it being a separate shareholding. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was also included.
ASIC and ACMA records show no update to owners or registered addresses, which is currently Grant Broadcasters office in Crows Nest. That’s not conclusive though as there is typically a delay in these being updated.
For example, these also show no changes to the companies/stations acquired by ARN yet.
There’s been no indication these are for sale. Grant’s restructured within the family for ownership of these stations to not interfere with ARN.
There are also deadlines for changes in control to be notified on approved forms to ACMA for their control register.
Capital staff would’ve been emailed or told at staff meeting.
Is 2CA going to start using the ARN music library or not?
Given that Capital Radio Network would have full ownership of the station, I’d say no.
Could they buy 2LT and 1079 FM?
They could, but I think BOG would probably be more likely to buy them, should Midwest Radio put them up for sale.
I would be very happy if Capital Radio purchased 2LT and Move fm. Eagle fm / Snow fm and XL fm / 2GN have far superior music logs.
But as mentioned by others more like BOG would purchased them and add them to their SRN. They own 2BS and Brock in Bathurst LA.
So would I. That way, much of Sydney could listen to “Forever Classic 2LT” via 101.1, as well as listening to the Eagle/Snow log on Move FM on 107.9 & 99.5. 
John McEvoy and family seem quite content on owning the Lithgow duo. Not ready to sell yet.
Nor were the Harris family and other local families of Alice Springs until they were ready in 2021.
A pity as I believe those stations have so much potential, but just run so poorly programming wise, it makes BOG station look state of the art.
I noticed today in the car with Tunein that 2GN is showing up as GNFM now.
Must be close now. It will be “fun” to drive to Canberra and see where 2GO (oops I mean Triple M) fights with GN-FM. My prediction around Bowral will be messy.
I guess that GNFM/2GO would Depend on where I point the aerial much like Star 104.5/Triple U, currently no test transmission on 107.7. Only station being received on that frequency at the moment is 2GO (Triple M)