Radio's share of display advertising is currently 5.9 per cent. Thus it is a small player and needs to grow if it is to hold its own against both traditional and new media. CRCA proposes that nationwide ownership controls should be left to competition regulation. We suggest the competition regulators can be left to decide the number of national services that a single owner may control. CRCA proposes that local ownership rules should be governed by a numerical formula.
Simplicity is beneficial to business investment and planning.
In these circumstances, a numerical formula can be altered reasonably quickly in the light of circumstances. The CRCA board is still discussing what the minimum number of local radio station owners in a market should be. We will inform the Committee of the outcome of those deliberations by means of an amended version of this memorandum in due course. The points system that currently governs commercial radio ownership of stations is based on potential not actual audience. Rajar data is therefore, to a degree, a measurement of actual influence while the raw population figure of an MCA is not.