Ashley Tabor's Global Radio is close to selling his company's majority stake in Digital One, its national platform of channels, to partner Arqiva in a deal intended to ensure his company can afford the cost of digital broadcasting.

In return for buying the 63 per cent holding -- for what is expected to be a nominal sum -- Arqiva has agreed to cut the rent charged for Classic FM and other Global Radio digital stations, cutting back on transmission costs at a time when radio is under pressure from the credit crunch.

Negotiations between the two have dragged on for months, and at one point, looked set to collapse. That would have prompted Global to abandon digital radio broadcasting at a time when ministers want to set a date for switching the larger stations from FM and AM to digital only services using the DAB standard.

A year ago, GCap Media, the predecessor to Global Radio, agreed to sell its shareholding in Digital One to Arqiva for £1, as it unveiled plans to scale back its DAB operations and focus on streaming radio via the internet. Those plans, though, were dropped when GCap was acquired by Mr Tabor's Global a few weeks later.

However, with the advertising market collapsing, and the costs of "dual transmission" -- using digital and FM frequencies -- Global Radio has been keen to revisit the subject. A transaction could be announced in days.

Global Radio said that it could not comment on any discussions it was having with Arqiva.

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