[James2001]

They're likely saving many times that a week in transmitter costs, it won't bother them.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Are the ofcom license fees paid up front or in installments? If there were 8 years to run on that licence have they also forfeited 4/5 of the licence fee?

[Brekkie]

RadioToday puts the licence at £10k a year. I'd be surprised if it was all paid upfront.

[Spencer]

The article also states they could have been fined up to £250,000, so it seems Bauer have got away pretty lightly.

[James2001]

Even 250k is probably a fraction of what the AM network cost to run.

[m_in_m]

The article I read made me think Ofcom had sympathy with them on the decision. I took that to mean they levied a low fine on that basis. They also made clear the Treasury gets the money and not Ofcom.

[JAS84]

Isn't this similar to what happened with Teletext? They also handed back their licence early. In both cases, it's because of the tech being obsolete. Who listens to AM nowadays? It's all either FM or DAB now. Teletext was obsoleted by the Internet.

[Brekkie]

Isn't this similar to what happened with Teletext? They also handed back their licence early. In both cases, it's because of the tech being obsolete. Who listens to AM nowadays? It's all either FM or DAB now. Teletext was obsoleted by the Internet.

Still say they jumped the gun on that.  You could have made the same argument to stop printing newspapers.

[London Lite]

According to the Ofcom report, no listeners complained about the AM switch off.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Teletext is still going strong in several European countries.

The way the OFCOM stuff on this is worded does sound like they are embarrassed at having to fine Absolute in the circumstances, it's a legal requirement