John McCann, the chief executive of talkSPORT owner UTV, yesterday made clear his interest in buying Virgin Radio.

“Virgin would be a very good fit for us. The demographics are good as they are similar to talkSPORT,” he said. “There would be some cost savings in bringing them together but this wouldn't be our focus.”

The auction for Virgin Radio, which is being carried out by investment bank Jefferies, has attracted a number of parties apart from UTV, including Absolute Radio, Global Radio and Malaysian group Astro.

It is understood that SMG, Virgin Radio's owner, wants a minimum of £60 million for the assets.

The Northern Ireland-based broadcaster, which announced its full-year results yesterday, said that a strong performance at talkSPORT helped to offset a decline in the television market.

Revenue from the radio division, which accounted for 56 per cent of UTV's revenue in 2007, grew by 6 per cent to £47.9 million in the UK and by 4 per cent to £16.6 million in Ireland. Mr McCann said that radio revenues were up 9 per cent in the first quarter of 2008.

TalkSPORT performed well in 2007, with a 12 per cent increase in revenue compared with 2006, which, because of the football World Cup, had been a strong year. Mr McCann said that new presenters, including Ian Wright, had contributed to the good showing.

UTV reported a pre-tax profit of £17.7 million for the 12 months to December 31, compared with a net loss of £3.9 million a year earlier. Revenue increased 2 per cent to £115.6 million.

Television advertising revenue fell by 1.7 per cent over the year, compared with a 4 per cent drop for the wider ITV network.

Mr McCann said that the group continued to outperform the television market in a difficult environment and expects TV advertising revenues to be flat in the first quarter of 2008 compared with an expected 2 per cent drop across the network.

The group said that it welcomed news that the contract rights renewal undertakings will be reviewed, adding that these “continue to distort market mechanisms”.

Mr McCann said his outlook for 2008 was positive. “Trading performance for the early part of 2008 is encouraging and our outlook for the year is cautiously optimistic given the current market uncertainty,” he said.

UTV's shares closed up 4p at 250p.

Dresdner Kleinwort said in a note: “A typically encouraging set of results provides some reassurance over high levels of debt: 2007 earnings were comfortably ahead of expectations, largely due to talkSPORT, which has proved hugely value accretive.

"With first-quarter figures still upbeat, the prognosis for 2008 is better than we had previously thought.”

Mr McCann added that he was broadly in favour of the potential takeover of GCap Media by Global Radio, which would be “very positive for radio”.

“What the industry desperately needs is a strong market leader and if putting GCap and Global together achieves this, then this would be good for the industry,” he said.

— Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) announced the acquisition of 2waytraffic in a move that will see US shows Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune brought together with Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The deal values 2waytraffic at £137.5 million.

Michael Lynton, the chairman and chief executive of SPE, said the acquisisition would allow it to “expand our access to new content and increase our interactive and distribution capabilities around the world.” 2waytraffic bought the Millionaire format in December 2006 for £106 million.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax