Bauer & Global competition rules and restrictions

If you’re a keen comper, you may already be aware of the rules surrounding comps hosted by certain media and radio brands – and the limitations on prizes you can win from them! These rules were introduced for on-air radio promotions, to stop the same people winning major prizes regularly – but they apply to other media too.

I’m taking a look at the T&Cs used by Global and Bauer – and the brands they own, which are most of the big commercial radio stations in the UK. I’ve also included a look at the T&Cs for NEWS UK, who own Virgin Radio and Talk Sport. It’s worth reading this post so you’re aware of the rules – it may help you decide whether or not to enter certain competitions or not!

To confirm, if you are on a 6 month ban from entering Bauer competitions, it’s fine to enter Global competitions (and vice versa) as they are two completely different companies. 

Bauer

Bauer have a set of general competition Terms and Conditions and also specific T&Cs for individual competitions. The general T&Cs apply to all competitions, from the free online prize draws to the standard-rate and premium rate text entry promotions.

These general T&Cs state that you must enter a competition once only, and use your legal name. If Bauer believe you have made multiple entries using different phone numbers, email addresses, or social media accounts, all entries will be void. 

If the general terms and specific terms contradict each other, then the specific terms take priority. When you enter a Bauer competition you are agreeing to both the general and specific sets of T&Cs. 

Once you’ve won a prize valued at £500 or more from any Bauer brand, you’re not eligible to win a prize from any Bauer brand during the next 6 months:

So that we can ensure fairness of our Competitions we reserve the right to prevent a person to win more than one prize valued at £500 or more via any of our Competitions in any given six (6) month period. For avoidance of doubt this means that an entrant will not be eligible to win any prize if the entrant has in the past six (6) months won a prize valued at £500 or more.  We reserve the right to disqualify your mobile phone number from future Competitions during this period.

T&Cs for individual competitions also reiterate this point – except for Make Me A Winner, which now allows you to enter even if you have a previous £500+ win within the last 6 months!

It’s usually OK for people at the same address to continue entering Bauer giveaways, as it’s only an individual ban (not a ban on your household members). But for some prizes valued at over £1,000 you may see in the T&Cs that people at the same address are also affected by the ban. Please check the small print carefully before you and your housemates or family take part!

If you win a single prize worth £500 or more, you can’t win another prize worth any value for the following six months (starting from the date you won the prize). So if you’re entering a promotion such as Kissmas where you specify the value of the prize you want, keeping it under £500 might be your best bet! And if you are lucky enough to win a high value prize with Bauer, remember that their T&Cs affect a huge range of brands (see www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands) – so if you win a holiday on Magic FM, don’t go entering Absolute’s web comp to win £1000 the following month. You can enter to win multiple prizes valued at less than £500 – it’s only when you win a biggie that the 6 month ban comes into force! 

It’s also ok to enter Bauer competitions during your six month ban, as long as they have a closing date AFTER your six month ban ends!

Bauer radio brands

• Kiss
• Magic
• Absolute
• Hits Radio
• Greatest Hits Radio
• Planet Rock
• …and many more local stations (see www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands-radio)

Global

Global general terms and conditions are published on the website of each of their radio stations (read them on the Heart website). Like Bauer, each individual competition has its own set of specific rules too. If these specific rules conflict with the general T&Cs (eg. allowing more than one entry), the specific rules will prevail. When you enter a competition you are agreeing to both the general and specific T&Cs. 

Entrants must be based in the UK at the time of entering (so don’t call in if you’re currently abroad on holiday!). You must use your real name, and if they call back it must be you that answers. They will only call back the number that entered – so if for example you get through to play an on air competition by calling from a friend’s phone, you could be disqualified. If you win a prize and take a guest with you, the guest must comply with T&Cs (so you couldn’t take a friend on a prize holiday who’s on a six month Global exclusion period, for example!)

Like Bauer, Global general T&Cs only allow one entry per person. For example, entries from the same IP address, email address, postal address, or telephone number may be considered suspicious and be disqualified. If you win, you will need to show proof of your ID, age and address – and maybe even proof that your voice matches the on air winner!

If you win a high value prize (over £1,000) with Global, you cannot win any more Global promotions for the following six months. If you win two prizes valued at less than £1,000 each, you will get a six month ban too. Note that these rules only apply to the prizewinner – not to other household members. If you win a runner’s up prize worth less than £50 on a Global station (eg. slippers) this does not count towards a ban. 

So that we can ensure the fairness of our Promotions, you acknowledge and agree that if you win a prize in any of our Promotions valued at £1,000 or above; or if you have won more than one prize during the previous six months then we reserve the right to withdraw from you, at our absolute discretion, any prize awarded to you, in error or otherwise, during a period of six months (“Exclusion Period”). You will be reminded of this when you provide your details during the prize fulfilment stage so there can be no doubt or confusion on your behalf that you accept and agree to participate in our Promotions in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. If you do enter any Promotion during the Exclusion Period, you may be disqualified and we reserve the right to: (i) select another entrant to participate in the Promotion; (ii) impose either a further exclusion period of twelve months from the date of your last entry attempt, or a longer or permanent ban, if we deem this necessary or appropriate; and/or (iii) disqualify your mobile phone number(s) and email addresses from future Promotions during this Exclusion Period. If you are disqualified, entry fees (if any) will not be refunded. You understand that if you enter our Promotions using multiple mobile phone numbers or email addresses, even if registered to you, this clause will still apply.

Global Radio

• Smooth
• Classic
• Heart
• LBC
• Capital
• Gold
• Radio X

Win + 

Win+ is Global’s paid entry platform, hosting competitions across all their radio station websites. Multiple entries are permitted across the Win+ platform. Entrants must agree to specific and general Global T&Cs when they take part, and if you win a prize on Win+ it’s OK to continue entering until Global tell you otherwise (as this is a paid platform, I assume Global don’t restrict your wins, as banning entrants for 6 months would reduce their revenue!)

If you have any problems, contact customer.support@global.com stating the details of the competition and which station it was on.

NEWS UK

News UK own Virgin Radio and Talk Sport, as well as a number of smaller Irish stations, and you can find their general competition T&Cs on the TalkSport Radio website. You can only enter each competition once. 

News UK T&Cs used to state that if you won a prize of any value with their stations (online or on air), you’re not allowed to enter any of their competitions for a full 12 months: 

….anyone who has won a prize on any radio station or website operated by the Promoter within the last 12 months are not eligible to enter any Competition

However as of July 2026, this rule seems to have disappeared from all their T&Cs, so I have contacted them to check if the bans still exist. 

Have you won a prize with Bauer or Global, and had a problems claiming it? Let me know in the comments!