Communicorp, the Dublin-based media group controlled by Denis O'Brien, is planning to merge the commercial sales teams at Today FM and Newstalk, the two national stations it owns in Ireland.

In a letter circulated to staff, it was noted that both sales teams have operated under the same roof of Marconi House in Dublin with “great success” in recent years.

However, as the commercial sales market is “changing rapidly”, staff were told that the company needed to ensure that it was best placed to “protect and grow” its revenue.

“To build on this success into the future we are going to work closer on all aspects of our sales business to ensure that we remain as competitive as we can be,” it added.

From January 1st, all commercial and trading functions for the stations will be merged under a new entity called Communicorp One, which will be headed up by Ray McKeon.

Communicorp One’s vision is to be market leader in all aspects of the radio industry, across all platforms and it will be “investing in new resources to help bring new sales propositions to the market”.

The Communicorp One team will be based on the fifth floor of Marconi House, where Today FM and Newstalk have their studios.