Virgin Radio is going to be rebranded as Absolute Radio on 28 September, as part of its change since Indian media group Times of India bought it for about $106 million from SMG in June. This rebranding follows TOIs decision not to user Virgin brand, which reverts back to its owner Virgin Enterprises. The station is run by the three executives who founded radio consultancy Absolute Radio International: CEO Donnach O’Driscoll, COO Clive Dickens and financial director Adrian Robinson…the company hire a branding agency to come up with other names, but decided to stick with something it already had, reports MediaWeek. The decision was made more convenient by the fact that the company already owns the Absolute trademark and web domain name.

The company’s two digital stations - Virgin Radio Xtreme and Virgin Radio Classic Rock - will rebrand to Absolute Xtreme and Absolute Classic Rock. TIML, the company under which TOI bought Virgin Radio, has earmarked about $30 million to develop and market the new Absolute brand.