CityBeat, the Belfast-based radio station, has been sold to the Northern Ireland company, Q Local Media by its English parent, CN Group.
No financial details of the transaction have been disclosed and it is unclear whether or not Q Local Media intends to retain all of the CityBeat radio’s current workforce.
The Q Local Media company previously had a portfolio of six radio stations located in regional towns across the North but the purchase of CityBeat signals its arrival in Belfast.
Dominic Fitzpatrick, chairman of Q Local Media, said today: “This acquisition is a significant step for the Q Group in that CityBeat has a proven track record throughout Greater Belfast and will complement our existing presence throughout Northern Ireland.”
Mr Fitzpatrick, who is also the managing director of the Irish News newspaper and its sister company, Interpress, a newspaper printing company, said that as a local organisation it was committed to further investment throughout the media group.
The CityBeat deal means Q Local Media joins Belfast-heaquartered media group UTV as one of the largest local radio operators on the island - UTV also has seven stations but its portfolio stretches from Belfast to Cork, Limerick, Dublin and Drogheda.
Q Local Media’s radio stations include Derry based Q102.9, Q97.2FM (Coleraine), Q107FM (Ballymena), Q106/7FM (covering the Mid Ulster area), Q100.5FM (Newry and Mourne) and Q101.2FM (Omagh/Enniskillen).
