The India-based parent company of Absolute Radio is investigating a possible sale of the loss-making music station less than three years after it bought it.

Times Infotainment Media Limited, a subsidiary of Times of India owner Bennett, Coleman and Co Ltd (BCCL), paid ￡53.2m for Absolute Radio ? then called Virgin Radio ? in 2008 .

The station's audience slumped after its rebrand and losses grew 62% to ￡4.3m in 2009 after revenues fell by a third .

Ravi Dhariwal, the chief executive of BCCL, told the Wall Street Journal : "We are in the process of conducting a review (of our various businesses) ? as to where we stand. It's too premature to talk about the likelihood of sale, etc. I wouldn't want to comment any further."

Any sale would be expected to be at a fraction of the amount BCCL paid for it, with most of the national commercial radio players in the UK, including UTV Media, Bauer and Global Radio, likely to take a look.

Industry insiders suggested TalkSport owner UTV Media would be a front runner ? provided it could fund a deal ? on the back of a strong performance by the national sport station in recent years .

"Only existing national operators are likely to be serious contenders because of the amount of money Absolute is losing and the economies of scale that would need to be made," said one industry executive.

Absolute became a more attractive target for UTV last year after it bought the rights to 32 live Premier League games a season . TalkSport already has the rights to 64 games, potentially giving it a 50% increase in its live football.

The company's value lies in its FM licence for London, with the audience for its national AM licence spiralling downwards in recent years.

Absolute's audience tumbled downwards in the wake of its rebrand from Virgin in September 2008 .

It had appeared to recover slightly in recent years before hitting a new low of 1.375 million listeners in the final quarter of last year , down more than a million from 2.348 million in the three months before its relaunch.

The station's chief executive, Donnach O'Driscoll, had set a target of 3 million listeners for the station in 2008 .

Absolute Radio, which has hired big-name presenters including Frank Skinner , has enjoyed more success in the digital realm, launching a range of spin-off stations including Absolute 80s and Absolute Radio 90s .

Turnover fell 32.7% to ￡14.8m in the year to the end of 2009, compared with ￡21.9m in 2008. Pre-tax losses grew from ￡2.7m to ￡4.3m. In the same period it cut costs by ￡5.5m.

Announcing the results last year, management said they were "exactly in line with projections made at the time of acquisition".

A spokeswoman for Absolute Radio said she had "nothing to add" to the statement by the BCCL chief executive.

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