Murdoch buys TalkSport in bid to conquer the airwaves

MEDIA mogul Rupert Murdoch is set to snare more coverage of Premiership football with a £220m takeover of Wireless Group, the owner of Talksport radio station.

The station owns radio and digital audio rights to broadcast Premier League and FA Cup football matches.

Its combination with Murdoch’s company News UK will bring it into a stable which included the Times and Sun newspapers.

And the 85-year-old Australian also controls TV giant Sky, which has its own rights for top-flight English football.

The all-cash deal will see Wireless investors paid 315p per share – a premium of 70.3pc when compared with the company’s quoted value.

Talksport, which features presenters including former BBC stalwart Colin Murray and exfootballer Stan Collymore, was originally built by Sun editor and close Murdoch associate Kelvin MacKenzie.

The mogul retained a large stake until it merged with UTV in 2005.

Belfast-based UTV last year changed its name to Wireless Group, sold its Irish television company to ITV and refocused on radio operations.

It made a £10.7m profit from £75m of sales in 2015.

Talksport is a key competitor for BBC Radio 5 Live in an industry dominated by the power of public broadcasting.

News UK boss Rebekah Brooks said: ‘The Wireless Group represents an opportunity for us to take advantage of its strong radio presence to build on our growing digital success story and to bring some of the best journalistic and broadcasting talent into one group.’

Wireless executive chairman Richard Huntingford said the move was a ‘great fillip’ to British commercial radio.

He said it was ‘about revenue synergies, not cost cutting’.

News UK – which is part of New York parent business News Corp – sees consolidation as key to tackling the rising dominance of internet companies such as Facebook.