Clear Channel (The Little Guys) Outlines Merger Opposition
Clear Channel outlines merger opposition to FCC Commissionervia
www.orbitcast.com, Apr 16
Clear Channel (
CCU), by far one of the largest radio broadcasters in the country, has sent FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate several follow up responses from her
meeting with the TAB.
According to the ex parte communication, Commissioner Tate questioned how Clear Channel can recognize and cite competition from other audio sources (iPods, Internet Radio, etc) as a reason for relaxing consolidation rules - while at the same time call the Sirius-XM merger a monopoly.
Conveniently, Clear Channel Vice President Thomas English gives three separate answers to this question. Here's a quick summary of his positions:
A combined Sirius-XM would "distort" the marketplace because it would concentrate the spectrum, while local radio ownership rules would unfairly restrict terrestrial.
How could free radio survive? Sirius-XM would have 100% spectrum, and local broadcasters can't compete against that.
Free radio serves the public interest, and he opposes anything that would affect that regardless of how the market is defined.
It's funny to see Clear Channel actually positioning itself as "the little guy" in this endeavor, promoting "local radio" or claiming that free radio would have "trouble" surviving. Truly amusing. Especially on the heals of Clear Channel
partnering with Google for ad distribution across 675 of its radio stations, and the industry as a whole pulls in over $20 billion (that's with a "b") a year...read more:
here4/16/2007 08:02:00 AM
SSG Has Merged. You Can Read All Of The Latest SSG Content By Clicking Here
4 Comments:
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"How could free radio survive? Sirius-XM would have 100% spectrum, and local broadcasters can't compete against that."
Wasn't the terrestrial argument originally that satellite would be a monopoly? So now they just wrote to the FCC that they compete with satellite??? A monopoly that has competition. Lets rewrite the dictionary. Good Lord!
By , at April 16, 2007 10:28 AM
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he actions of the NAB are simply pathetic. Practically every word this organization utters is contradicting the word before. They claim XM/Sirius want a government sanctioned bailout due to a failed business model, and then lobby congress for deregulation of the ownership rules and passing of legislation to keep XM/Sirius from providing local content.
The NAB claims that satellite radio competes with terrestrial radio but terrestrial radio doesn't compete with satellite radio on a national level. They seem to have an answer for everything.
If they don't compete, why are they spend their own money placing ads in newspapers and in radio spots? Public interest? Are they true humanitarians? I don't see Apple putting out statements. I don't see the National Association of Realtors lobbying congress. I don't see the Microsoft crying monopoly.
It seems every time I see the term "public interest" mentioned in a statement by the NAB, it is always immediately followed by a subtle mention of "local advertisers". It seems THAT is the real issue. The NAB is not concerned about you or me. They are worried about losing local advertisers that are beginning to utilize platforms that have a greater reach.
Here's one of many examples of written statements by the NAB made to the FCC stating they compete not only with satellite radio, but other mediums as well.
"Broadcasters today face intense, and expanding, competition from cable operators, satellite video providers, video sales and rentals, video games, digital video recorders, satellite radio services, and the Internet. The marketplace incentives created by this competition invariably force broadcasters to diligently serve the needs and interests of their local communities just to maintain their existing audience, as well as develop innovate new services that may expand their audience."
COMMENTS OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS
Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
In the Matter of
MB Docket No. 04-233
Broadcast Localism
November 1, 2004
By , at April 16, 2007 11:59 AM
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he actions of the NAB are simply pathetic. Practically every word this organization utters is contradicting the word before. They claim XM/Sirius want a government sanctioned bailout due to a failed business model, and then lobby congress for deregulation of the ownership rules and passing of legislation to keep XM/Sirius from providing local content.
The NAB claims that satellite radio competes with terrestrial radio but terrestrial radio doesn't compete with satellite radio on a national level. They seem to have an answer for everything.
If they don't compete, why are they spend their own money placing ads in newspapers and in radio spots? Public interest? Are they true humanitarians? I don't see Apple putting out statements. I don't see the National Association of Realtors lobbying congress. I don't see the Microsoft crying monopoly.
It seems every time I see the term "public interest" mentioned in a statement by the NAB, it is always immediately followed by a subtle mention of "local advertisers". It seems THAT is the real issue. The NAB is not concerned about you or me. They are worried about losing local advertisers that are beginning to utilize platforms that have a greater reach.
Here's one of many examples of written statements by the NAB made to the FCC stating they compete not only with satellite radio, but other mediums as well.
"Broadcasters today face intense, and expanding, competition from cable operators, satellite video providers, video sales and rentals, video games, digital video recorders, satellite radio services, and the Internet. The marketplace incentives created by this competition invariably force broadcasters to diligently serve the needs and interests of their local communities just to maintain their existing audience, as well as develop innovate new services that may expand their audience."
COMMENTS OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS
Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
In the Matter of
MB Docket No. 04-233
Broadcast Localism
November 1, 2004
By , at April 16, 2007 12:05 PM
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What difference has any of these stories had on the stocks or Congress? I know the stocks have continually gone dowm and I don't know about Congress. I am sick of underperforming the market because of my holding SIRI and XMSR, so I sold 1/3 of it this morning.
By , at April 16, 2007 12:06 PM
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