Renewal of nationwide licences at a nominal amount.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/manage-your-licence/radio-broadcast-licensing/monthly-updates/radio-broadcast-update-april-2021 of 11 May 2021:
„Ofcom has set the financial terms for the renewal of each of the three Independent National Radio licences at a nominal cash bid of £10,000 per annum with a 0% PQR (percentage of qualifying revenue).
Classic FM and Absolute Radio [main frequency 1215 kHz] have accepted these terms, and their licences have been renewed for a further ten-year period commencing 1 May 2021. talkSPORT [main frequencies 1053/1089 kHz]has until 31 December 2021 to accept or reject the new financial terms. If the terms are accepted, its licence will be renewed for a further ten-year period commencing 1 January 2022.“
It ist worth while to consult the relevant paper on the „Renewal of the Independent National Radio licences Methodology for a review of financial terms“ at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/209563/inr-licence-renewal-methodology.pdf, page 13:„2.61 The table shows that over time the PQR and Cash Bid associated with the INR licences have reduced, and that each licensee has been making nominal financial payments since the 2010 reviews. This reflects the fact that the profits associated with the right to broadcast nationally on analogue have reduced over time as digital listening has increased and that, in more recent reviews, entry costs for a new entrant were considered likely to outweigh the potential analogue profits available. Consequently, recent reviews concluded that a new entrant would not be prepared to bid for the licence under our methodology and the incumbents could retain their licences in a hypothetical auction for a nominal amount.“
via Dr Hansjoerg Biener (2021-05-11)