Vol. 550 No. 5
39 Mr. Stagg asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the basis on which she approved the take-over by a company (details supplied) of a company and of the balance of shares in a company; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9482/02]
Prior to these acquisitions, Scottish Radio Holdings owned four regional newspapers and held a 24% stake in Today FM. SRH has no other interests in radio or other media in the State. As a result of the acquisitions they now control Today FM and five regional newspaper titles. In clearing the proposals under merger law, I recognised the fact that the newspaper sector continues to be dominated by a single player and, despite increasing levels of competition from radio broadcasters, RTE is still the main radio operator. Given the fact that Today FM and these relatively small regional newspapers would become part of a larger group, I believed that the acquisitions were positive developments in relation to competition in the media sector generally.
Question No. 40 answered orally with Question No. 7.
