Former Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie is considering legal action over a proposal in the Digital Britain to automatically renew the licences for the country’s three national commercial radio licences.
Mackenzie, a former owner of TalkSport, has expressed an interest in bidding for one of the licences when they come up for renewal in 2011/2012.
But Stephen Carter’s report on Tuesday said TalkSport, Classic FM and Absolute Radio could benefit from having their licences extended by up to seven years.
Mackenzie told the Telegraph: “The bottom line is there would be a queue a mile long to bid for these three national licences and interested parties would pay millions for them which would go straight to the Exchequer.
“The government needs money and people like me are willing pay a lot for one of these national licences which are up for renewal very soon.
“If the government presses ahead with this, I will take legal action and go to the high court.
“There is nothing in the current broadcasting act which allows the automatic roll-over of these licences.”
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