Global has launched heart plus as part of Radio Plus, giving listeners a paid way to hear Heart stations without commercial breaks. The Heart Plus tier costs £4.99 a month or £49.99 a year and covers ad-free Live, Replay and Catch Up across one music brand family.
Ashley Tabor-King CBE, Founder & Executive President of Global, said: "Radio Plus gives listeners a new way to enjoy the stations they love: live, energetic radio with the sense of time, place, occasion and curation only live radio delivers, but with more music and no commercial breaks." He added: "Plus keeps everything that makes radio so special, from brilliant presenters and big shared moments, to news, competitions, events and listener interaction."
Heart UK to Heart Xmas
The Heart Plus package includes Heart UK, Heart 70s, Heart 80s, Heart 90s, Heart 00s, Heart 10s, Heart Dance, Heart Love, Heart Musicals and Heart Xmas. That gives the subscription a clear lane: one paid option for listeners who want the Heart family in a format built around live listening, replay and catch-up, rather than switching between individual free streams.
Radio Plus itself sits above the brand-specific tier. Global set the wider package at £9.99 a month or £99.99 a year, while also offering LBC Catch Up Plus at £4.99 a month or £49.99 a year for ad-free Catch Up from LBC and LBC News. The pricing shows how Global is splitting the market by use case: one cheaper tier for a single brand family, and a broader package for listeners who want more than that.
Global Player stays free
Global Player will remain free, and Global’s normal streams, FM and DAB will continue to carry advertising. Ashley Tabor-King CBE said: "Global Player is still completely free, and nothing changes on our normal streams, FM and DAB." He also called it "simply a new exciting choice for our listeners."
Radio Plus can be accessed through Global Player, linked to Alexa smart speakers, in-car apps and Apple TV. Subscribers also get brand-specific benefits such as priority event access, weekly competition entries, exclusive presenter newsletters and merchandise discounts, but Global has not given subscriber numbers. For now, the launch is less about replacing free radio than about adding a paid layer on top of it — with heart plus as the entry point for listeners who want ad-free access to the Heart brands.
