More takeovers of Irish stations are likely next year, with Galway Bay FM an obvious target.

UTV has long been expected to make a move on the station but would have been deterred by a two-year moratorium on stations being sold during a relicensing process.

UTV sells ads for Galway Bay FM, so ties have already been formed between the station and the potential buyer.

The Northern Ireland media group already has stations in Dublin, Limerick and Cork, and a Galway station would give it a presence in all the major cities.

The company has said it is interested in any stations in large urban centres, and Galway would complete the set.

Another likely target is Red FM in Cork, which is owned by some of the backers of FM104.

As UTV owns the only other independent player in that market, Red is the only choice for a company interested in getting into the capital of Munster.

Red has made a strong impact in Cork and, in a less competitive market than Dublin, has an important slice of that market with room to build up market share.

In the rest of the country, there has been less interest in stations in rural areas but some of the more profitable stations could be picked off. Another possibility is consolidation among these stations to strengthen their position.