T in the Park bosses have paid back £50,000 of public cash, the Scottish Government has confirmed.
A reminder was last month sent to organisers DF Concerts to return part of the controversial £150,000 Holyrood grant.
The money, agreed by culture secretary Fiona Hyslop in 2015, was given to cover the festival’s first three years at Strathallan Castle.
However, because festival bosses cancelled this year’s show, they were told they needed to pay back a third of the total amount.
A Scottish Government spokesman said on Thursday: “In line with the grant conditions, DF Concerts have now repaid the Scottish Government £50,000 after the decision to not stage the 2017 event.”
DF Concerts has declined to comment on the payment, but insiders have always insisted there was “no question” that the money would be repaid in full.
The pay-out sparked a “cronyism” row, although Ms Hyslop was later cleared of any wrongdoing by public spending body Audit Scotland.
The money was agreed to help T in the Park move to its new home at Strathallan.
In November, organisers pulled the plug on the 2017 event, saying they wanted to take a year out and spend time getting on top of issues which plagued the last two years.
In a statement, DF Concerts said constraints placed on them as a result of planning consent were “simply not workable”.
Since then, the company has confirmed details of its new TRNSMT festival, to be staged on Glasgow Green at the beginning of July – the traditional date for T in the Park time.
Radiohead, Kasabian and Billy Clyro have been confirmed as headliners at the three-day event.
However, boss Geoff Ellis has stressed that the non-camping show will not be a replacement for T.
He even suggested that both festivals could return in 2018.
He told BBC Radio One: “I don’t think you can replace T in the Park.
He added: “One is an urban, city centre event and the other is a rural camping event.
“Next year maybe we’ll run a camping festival and have TRNSMT in the city centre as well. But let’s see how this year goes first.”
