The one major British media interest linked to the stations, Guardian Media Group, is understood to have decided to focus on its recent British radio acquisitions, Century Radio and Saga, rather than launch a bid to enter the Irish market.

It is also understood that two major private equity houses, USbased Quadrangle, an investor in film studio MGM, and British firm 3i will not submit bids even though they obtained information memorandums.

It is expected, however, that several major Irish players including TV3 owner Doughty Hanson and UTV will submit figures while industry sources believe that the Irish Times and Thomas Crosbie Holdings will both make last minute decisions tomorrow.

Communicorp, Denis O'Brien's radio business, is unlikely to lodge any bid due to the severe difficulties it would encounter in getting Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) and Competition Authority approval, because a successful bid would result in it owning almost all of Dublin's local radio stations.

A number of smaller players are also understood to have decided not to lodge a bid due to Emap's decision to sell the stations as a group rather than separately.

Several were understood to be interested in Highland Radio only and there is mounting speculation that whoever purchases the stations will sell the Donegal station onto a smaller player such as the River Media Group in an attempt to recoup some of the original purchase price.

Despite the interest from major Irish players, it is likely that Emap will be disappointed by the offers it receives, none of which are likely to be close to the 200m that the company is understood to be seeking for the stations.

There have been rumours circulating in British finance sectors that the troubled media giant was considering returning the proceeds of the sale to its shareholders in an attempt to appease them, a possibility that the company refused to rule out when speaking to analysts after announcing its results last week.

"It's so overpriced and such a tryon that some people have even joked that it would be great if we taught them a lesson and no one put a bid in, " said one industry source, who claimed that Emap would be lucky to receive 150m for the three Irish stations.