Plans to have Dublin's new "youth" radio service on air early this year have almost certainly been scuppered by legal challenges. However, two other new commercial stations for the capital - Lite FM, a music service for over-35s, and News Talk 106FM - are unaffected and still planning spring launches.
Two unsuccessful applicants for the youth licence, Pulse FM and Storm FM, were in the High Court separately before Christmas and each has been granted leave to appeal against the decision by the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) to award the licence to Spin FM.
Pulse, of which U2 manager Mr Paul McGuinness is the main backer, also obtained an interim injunction against the IRTC awarding the licence. However, Pulse did not seek to renew the injunction when it expired on December 20th. The IRTC chief executive, Mr Michael O'Keeffe, said the commission would not proceed with negotiating its contract with Spin, pending developments arising from the judicial review.
The challenges to the IRTC decision centre on rules about cross-ownership. Mr Denis O'Brien, through his company Radio 2000, has a 25 per cent shareholding in Spin FM, while also controlling Dublin pop station 98FM.
In addition, there are questions about the IRTC's unwillingness to give reasons for its decision and about the activities of one IRTC board member, Mr Colum Kenny. Counsel for Pulse complained that Mr Kenny wrote about the IRTC decision in a newspaper article; the Storm case included an allegation that Mr Kenny had made inquiries to the Garda Drugs Squad about a Storm director, Mr John Reynolds.
The Spin FM consortium, chaired by Mr Ossie Kilkenny, had been aiming for a February on-air launch. The IRTC had written to Spin "as a courtesy" to say that the process was "on hold", Mr O'Keeffe said. Both cases are due back in the High Court on January 17th.
While the appeals against the IRTC decision might be seen as having wider implications for the commission's procedures, none of the unsuccessful applicants in other categories has mounted a court challenge.
Mr John Purcell, the chairman of News Talk 106FM, which won the licence in the "speech-driven" category, told The Irish Times the station was "working on the nuts and bolts", including its contract with the IRTC, seeking premises in Dublin and recruiting a chief executive.
It is understood that News Talk's on-air target date of sometime in March will not be achieved, with a late spring launch more likely. News Talk has already been allotted the most powerful of the new FM frequencies, 106 MHz. The youth station, when it finally appears, will be at 103.8, with "easy listening" station Lite FM at 102.2.
Lite FM chairman Mr Martin Block said: "We've known about the Spin situation for some time, but we haven't taken any legal advice and we can see no reason why we should be involved."
Lite FM has secured premises in Glenageary, Co Dublin, and plans to tie up its contract with the IRTC and begin recruiting personnel in the next four to six weeks. "We're very confident of being on-air in mid-to-late April," Mr Block said.
Meanwhile, Indie-rock pirate station Phantom FM, which applied for a "special interest" licence under the name Spirit FM, has resumed unlicensed broadcasting. It went off the air in the summer to meet an IRTC deadline for applicants.
No licence was awarded in the special-interest category.