Reports over the weekend that The Guardian Media Group had been approached by UTV and Orion Media for their radio division have been denied by Orion Media Chief Executive, Phil Riley.

Initially it was thought that the broadcasters had made preliminary approaches for GMG Radio in the past two weeks and that parent company GMG had rejected both bids for being lower than their £115m valuation.

The Sunday's Telegraph story says GMG Chief Executive Andrew Miller has been offered less than £100m for the radio portfolio, which includes the Real Radio, Smooth Radio and Rock Radio brands.

A spokesman for GMG has since said: "Our radio stations are attractive assets, so it is unsurprising that we receive expressions of interest from time to time. While we keep our portfolio under constant review, we are not seeking a buyer at this time."


Irish broadcasters UTV are the owners of talkSPORT and a number of local stations across Great Britain and Ireland. West Midlands based Orion Media are owners of local stations in the West Midlands and operate Heart 106 under franchise from Global Radio. UTV refused to comment and Orion Media were unavailable.