Statement published 2 July 2025
The BBC faces a continued challenge of providing engaging, relevant content for all audiences, at a time of increased choice and competition from other providers. The BBC’s proposals aim to do more for younger and C2DE audiences who currently get less value from the BBC, and better meet the moods and needs of modern audiences.
The BBC has a duty to serve all audiences across the UK with distinctive, high-quality UK content. We welcome the BBC’s aim to connect with audiences whom it needs to do more to reach and are supportive of its attempts to innovate.
The proposed launch of four new DAB+ radio stations
We have concluded that the BBC may proceed with the launch of three of these services as DAB+ stations: Radio 1 Dance, Radio 1 Anthems and Radio 3 Unwind. We concluded that the services would offer some public value, and we considered this to be sufficient to justify the limited impact on fair and effective competition.
These services will be covered by existing operating licence conditions; we have decided not to introduce new conditions for these services at this time.
We have concluded that the BBC may not proceed with its proposed launch of a Radio 2 extension. We considered that the proposal would provide some public value, but that this was not sufficient to justify the significant impact on fair and effective competition, which includes the potential to reduce investment incentives for commercial radio operators.
The proposed extension of the hours of Radio 5 Sports Extra
We have concluded that the BBC may not proceed with this change. We concluded that the proposed extension would provide some public value, for example by broadening the amount of sport on linear radio. However, we did not consider this sufficient to justify the significant impact on fair and effective competition, in particular on the talkSPORT network and the commercial provision of sports radio services.