Petaling Jaya – Astro All Asia Networks Plc has taken on three British rivals in the race for UK radio station Virgin Radio from media group SMG Plc. Bids reportedly range from £60 million (US$117million) and £70 million (US$136million) for Virgin Radio, which is valued by its owner SMG at £85million (US$166million). Other companies believed to be in the bidding include Global Radio, Absolute Radio and private equity firm Vitruvian Partners. Deadline for the next round of bids is mid-March. Astro currently operates eight FM terrestrial radio stations in Malaysia in Malay, Chinese, Indian and English. Its radio concerns contributed around 7% to Astro group revenue in 2007, according to a report from Netresearch-Asia Sdn Bhd, with a listener base of 11million people, commanding 51% of listener share and 73% of radio ad spend. Astro’s pay-TV service currently broadcasts over 100 pay-TV channels across Malaysia and Brunei, to over two million subscribers in four major languages. Astro has also branched out into Indonesia, India and China. “Start-up losses incurred on its Indonesia direct-to-home (DTH) satellite venture have clawed heavily into its core operational income and its new foray into India is also expected to impact adversely on its bottom line in the medium to long term,” say Netresearch-Asia.