O’Brien ‘does not have undue control of media’

THE media interests of billionaire entrepreneur Denis O’Brien are not enough to create competition concerns in the Irish market, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has ruled.

Looking at the Dublin and south-west Ireland areas, the BCI said yesterday that Mr O’Brien “does not have control of, or substantial interests in, an undue amount of communications media in any of these franchise areas”.

Mr O’Brien has controlling stakes in radio stations Newstalk, Today FM, Spin 103.8 and 98FM in Dublin. He also has a large stake in Spin South-West and is the second-largest shareholder in Independent News & Media, behind Tony O’Reilly.