Two consecutive board meetings have been cancelled, with shareholders - H Bauer, UTV Radio, BSkyB, The Carphone Warehouse and UBC Media - left in the dark as to why there has been no formal contact since February with the Channel 4 executives who manage the consortium.
Channel 4 told shareholders the board meetings were cancelled because certain board members were unavailable.
4Digital Group has still to recruit a chief executive and a commercial director. A preferred candidate has been identified for the commercial role. However, Channel 4 is still unable to make an announcement.
Meanwhile, given the closures of many DAB stations, the need for a second multiplex is being openly questioned.
4Digital Group is said to be in talks with Digital One, owned by Global and Arqiva, about a solution that could see either all Digital One's content moving over to the Channel 4-led second multiplex, or vice versa.
In the latter event, Channel 4 would no longer be a landlord of its own multiplex, which would have a significantly detrimental effect on its radio business model.
Paul Robinson, managing director of KidsCo and former chief executive of TalkSport, said: "There is an internal nervousness at Channel 4 now due to the advertising model being soft and their plans being very ambitious."
He added: "I imagine it is redrawing its business plan, as 4Radio was meant to generate cash and now looks like it could be consuming it. If it can't launch by November, it will have to wait for spring 2009, as it would have missed the Christmas advertising rush."
Furthermore, 4Digital has yet to issue a contract to Arqiva for the supply of transmitters for its multiplex. A source close to Arqiva said: "If the contract was issued tomorrow, it would not be able to roll a network out nationally by the end of the summer - which is still the official launch date according to Ofcom."
Ofcom is said to be in talks with Channel 4 about the delay, but has yet to grant it permission to extend the switch-on date for the second national multiplex.
Channel 4 told shareholders the board meetings were cancelled because certain board members were unavailable.
4Digital Group has still to recruit a chief executive and a commercial director. A preferred candidate has been identified for the commercial role. However, Channel 4 is still unable to make an announcement.
Meanwhile, given the closures of many DAB stations, the need for a second multiplex is being openly questioned.
4Digital Group is said to be in talks with Digital One, owned by Global and Arqiva, about a solution that could see either all Digital One's content moving over to the Channel 4-led second multiplex, or vice versa.
In the latter event, Channel 4 would no longer be a landlord of its own multiplex, which would have a significantly detrimental effect on its radio business model.
Paul Robinson, managing director of KidsCo and former chief executive of TalkSport, said: "There is an internal nervousness at Channel 4 now due to the advertising model being soft and their plans being very ambitious."
He added: "I imagine it is redrawing its business plan, as 4Radio was meant to generate cash and now looks like it could be consuming it. If it can't launch by November, it will have to wait for spring 2009, as it would have missed the Christmas advertising rush."
Furthermore, 4Digital has yet to issue a contract to Arqiva for the supply of transmitters for its multiplex. A source close to Arqiva said: "If the contract was issued tomorrow, it would not be able to roll a network out nationally by the end of the summer - which is still the official launch date according to Ofcom."
Ofcom is said to be in talks with Channel 4 about the delay, but has yet to grant it permission to extend the switch-on date for the second national multiplex.
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