Rotana paid SR67.35 million ($17.96 million) for the third Saudi radio license,
Arab News reported yesterday.
Rotana joins Alf Alf alliance, who paid SR75 million, and Ghaya Innovation Holding Co, who paid SR 66 million, as new licence holders.
The Saudi Ministry of Information and Culture announced in
September it was going to begin issuing radio licences to private companies in a bid to open up the kingdom's radio market. Up until then, only two private radio stations, MBC FM and Panorama, both owned by the MBC Group, broadcast in the kingdom.
Arab Advisers Group research shows that nearly 82 per cent of Saudis listen to the radio, more than half of them daily.
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