The owner of Capital 95.8 and Classic FM, GCap Media, is closing its DAB radio stations theJazz and Planet Rock, and selling its majority stake in Digital One, the national digital radio licence.
The move comes as part of a shakeup by the new chief executive of GCap, Fru Hazlitt. She intends to focus on FM radio, broadband and mobile platforms, and turn away from the emerging DAB market.
Hazlitt says she will concentrate on FM and broadband because they are "the platforms that we believe consumers want and which offer the greatest growth opportunities. DAB is not an economically viable platform for the company".
GCap will sell its stake in Digital One to Arqiva, its partner in the joint venture. It is also disposing of its XFM regional analogue licences, to focus on XFM's heritage as a London station.
A spokeswoman for the Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB) says: "We regret the closure of Planet Rock and theJazz, but we look forward to the emergence of new DAB services, and the rationalisation of the commercial radio national DAB service".
