Major radio network announces ten stations including Magic and Absolute will disappear from millions of TV boxes in days

A MAJOR radio network has announced that ten stations including Magic and Absolute will disappear from millions of TV boxes in just days.

Bauer is removing all of its radio stations from Sky and Virgin on December 13.

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The stations will also disappear from Freesat on January 3 next year.

They include Absolute Radio, Absolute 80s, Absolute 90s, Absolute Classic Rock, Hits Radio, Greatest Hits Radio, KISS, Magic, Jazz FM and Planet Rock.

Listeners have started to see messages announcing the changes when they tune into the stations on their TVs.

Television accounts for just 3.8 per cent of all digital listening according to the latest Radio Joint Audience Research figures.

German media giant Bauer bought the radio stations from British firm Emap in 2018 – renaming the network Bauer Radio Limited.

Bauer was fined £25,000 by Ofcom in June after it stopped broadcasting Absolute Radio’s AM service before its licence ran out.

The licence had been renewed for 10 years in May 2021, but Bauer confirmed it had “ceased to provide” the AM service this January.

The German-owned radio network faced a maximum penalty of £250,000.

But Ofcom let it off with a fine of just £25,000 after “having taken account of all relevant material in this case”.

All of the stations will still be available on Freeview.

There are still more than 50 radio stations on Sky, including those owned by Global and the BBC.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk