A consortium led by Channel 4 has won the bidding for the second national digital multiplex – or 10 new national digital radio stations, if you want it straight. Walt Disney, Sky News, EMAP, Virgin Radio and the Carphone Warehouse are all partners in the group, and will be contributing to the output.

Walt Disney will be producing a station dedicated to children, Carphone Warehouse will be working on services specifically aimed at people who access music through their mobile phones, and EMAP will be working on a station based around Closer magazine, which is set to be one of two channels targeted at women listeners. Channel 4 themselves will handle 3 of the stations.

Following the success of www.channel4radio.com, it is expected that a podcast provider will be included in the digital portfolio as well, with content expected from major providers such as The Financial Times. And hopefully some more stuff from Tom Ravenscroft. His podcast on channel4radio is superb.