After a long and tortured sales process for Macquarie Media Limited (MML) to divest itself of 2CH, it seems the front runner to take over the station is EON Broadcasters.

EON, with a duopoly on the Sunshine coast, headed by Glenn Wheatley, could take over the station by mid January according to a report in The Australian which puts the price at $5.5 million.

Following the lapse of the deadline for the sale of 2CH on September 30, the ACMA directed MML to hand over the sales process to a ‘Divestiture Agent’ in the form of Vaughn Strawbridge of the accounting and business consultancy firm, Deloitte.

radioinfo understands that EON was a keen bidder for 2CH prior to Deloitte taking over the sales process but was not considered the preferred buyer. However, the ACMA rejected both potential buyers put to them by MML.

This time around, according to the Oz, EON looks to have won the prize despite offering $250,000 less than Bruce Gordon’s WIN Corp because it would guarantee to remain focused on the 60+ age group.

Mr Wheatley has yet to respond to a request for comment.