Clear Channel Gets Bought Out; Will New Owners Mean New Ideas?

from the wait-and-see dept

Radio giant Clear Channel has agreed to a $19 billion leveraged buyout by a group of private-equity firms -- a move that will take the company private and could spark significant change in how it does business. Clear Channel has continually fought for the relaxation of ownership rules that would allow it to own even more stations in particular markets, but it's unclear if its new owners will want to pursue the same type of strategy that's appeared focused on buying every radio station in sight, and making them all sound the same. When private-equity firms take over a company, the first thing many people think is that they'll break it into parts and sell it off at a profit. Clear Channel is already saying it wants to sell off its 42 TV stations and nearly half its radio stations (though these are all in smaller markets, and generate less than 10 percent of its total revenues) and there's been persistent talk that it would split off its outdoor advertising business as well. Further breaking up its radio holdings is possible, but seems rather unlikely -- but so does further large-scale expansion, given that the company will soon take on more debt to finance the buyout. We've slated Clear Channel in the past for a variety of reasons, but mostly because of the ham-fisted way it's tried to adapt to the changing media market. There's hope that new ownership could realize how badly the company's stumbled when it comes to technology and the internet, or even the effect its work to homogenize its stations and the music industry has had, and seek to make significant changes to deliver new revenue growth. However, current executives, including the CEO and chairman from the controlling Mays family, will stay on board -- so any real change would appear to remain a distant possibility. However, freed from the burden of having to try to satisfy public investors, or driven by the demands of its new owners, maybe something will change.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    whargoul, 16 Nov 2006 @ 9:43am

    Clear Channel's been bought...

    It's about damn time. But if the head of the company is staying, I don't see any real change in their practices coming anytime soon.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    progrock, 16 Nov 2006 @ 9:45am

    It's gotten pretty bad

    With clear channel owning darn near all the stations around big cities, it's harder and harder to hear anything but top 40 stuff. And not that top 40 is all bad, but change is good. I'd like an alternative station, a classic rock station, maybe even something even more out there, like a metal station. I'm sick of the latest rapper chanting about how much money and how many women he has.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mike, 16 Nov 2006 @ 10:18am

    wha

    They should just scrap AM/FM radio, it's useless anyway!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    James, 16 Nov 2006 @ 11:48am

    Of all the reasons I love my XM radio...

    ....clear channel is as good as any of them. Perhaps in other languages "clear channel" is a euphemism for "sucky ass radio".

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Lewis Salem, 16 Nov 2006 @ 1:26pm

    Mike.

    Mike,

    Why is FM radio useless? I find the satellite radio in my car to have less quality than FM. I love the selection, but the compression is a problem.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 16 Nov 2006 @ 2:08pm

      Re: Mike.

      You must be using Sirius, or use your unit with an FM modulator (or both.) The quality of satellite radio (granted, I'm an XM subscriber) FAR surpasses FM broadcast radio. With a direct connection via add on receiver to the head unit, or an external receiver, quality is at close or equal to CD quality in my estimation.

      My 2 cents...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Tyshaun, 16 Nov 2006 @ 2:16pm

    Why would ClearChannel change?

    Why would ClearChannel change anything? Their strategy, while not very beneficial to the competition, has been very lucrative and appears quite successful in dominating areas it has assets in (such as radio and outdoor ads).

    Remember the point of a corporation is to turn a profit for its shareholders, not to make people happy.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Stu, 16 Nov 2006 @ 3:34pm

    I don't understand how satellite quality has any practical value when listening in a car.
    Even when your car is high end, when you factor in wind, tire and road noise listening quality is shot anyway.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jack, 17 Nov 2006 @ 5:55am

    No change..

    Clear Channel's strategy is to utilize talent in one market in many markets. This saves them money and allows them to use talent in markets where they would otherwise not be able to recruit talent.

    It definitely saves them a lot of money and I don't see why they would change.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Philip, 17 Nov 2006 @ 6:07am

    I've got a 3 step program that eliminates all radio, satellite & terrestrial:

    1) BMW iPod adaptor
    2) iPod
    3) Podcasts

    Bliss...with no monthly fees or screaming car commericals

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Leslie, 17 Nov 2006 @ 7:28am

    No More Continuious Christina Aguleria!

    Haha the clear channel station out here drives me insane. Same stuff every day. I could have people believe I am a psychic b/c I can guess what song is coming on next. It'd be nice to have a change. Gimme a little bit of something different

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Dan, 20 Nov 2006 @ 7:20am

    Stu: What?

    Have you ever driven a Lexus? The whole point of a nice car with a nice sound system is that it doesn't have road noise and does sound good. XM sounds great in my car and FM stations are staticy. It's especially good for long drives when you don't feel like finding CDs or changing the FM station every 4 minutes.

    Anyway, I love XM. Sounds great, good content, and less staticy channel changing.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Laura Pyne, 22 Nov 2006 @ 2:20pm

    Are you willing to answer direct questions?

    It is been mesmorizing for me to watch this industry pass by enormous opportunities, financially and socially. In any business, there must be a a market. There is a big one- watch and pay attention.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Daniel Belgrave, 24 Nov 2006 @ 6:23am

    CBS will buy another salt lake city?

    Clear Channel might sell all cw stations to CBS?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Daniel Belgrave, 24 Nov 2006 @ 6:29am

      Re: CBS will buy another salt lake city?

      Clear Channel Might Sell KUCW-TV (Channel 30) to CBS Corp.
      and making 12 CW Network Owned-and-operated station,
      CBS already owned KUTV (CHANNEL 2) In Salt Lake City.
      and even starting 9 o'clock newscast will replaced KJZZ-TV (Channel 14)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    shinderpal jandu, 28 Nov 2006 @ 1:11am

    This will all end with crying .

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2007 @ 4:12am

    Changes in Clear Channel

    I was afraid of this change.
    I noticed a small change in late Nov. after the buy out.
    Clear Channel programming in it's talk radio IE: Coasttocoastam, sounds more like Fox Media.
    There has been a change in the content of talk radio leaning more toward propaganda for the Government.
    As for some of the talk show host,like Art Bell, they sound like the talking heads of average American media.
    Absolute Propaganda spewing crapheads.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    sam, 14 Feb 2008 @ 11:14pm

    Who is worse

    Is Clear Channel worse for ruining radio or Mitt (and company) for likely gutting the company (and its employees).

    http://radiosherpa.blogspot.com/2008/02/is-gordon-gekko-entering-radio.html

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    gordon, 11 Apr 2008 @ 5:39am

    good day sir

    good day sir.

    my name is Gordon.
    from ghana western africa i am musician pl sir i need your help
    i come from a very pure family and i loss my family in the car
    accident so i have nobody to help me amme full talented rapper
    i sing hiphop pl sir don.t doit for the seck human pl doit for the
    seck of god i promiss i will make you prade if you do this for
    me my tallent is wested in the street i have no home pl help me out.

    god pless you and your family.

    best regard
    gordon hartd.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.