Clear Channel Goes Private and Streamlined

7Prime writes "Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nations largest radio, billboard, and entertainment outlet, announced their intention this morning to sell the company to a consortium of private-equity firms for over $26 billion. In addition, Clear Channel's TV division, as well as its smallest 448 radio stations would be sold out of the company and will be looking for potential buyers." From the article: "The buyers, led by Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, also are bidding for Tribune Co., which owns several newspapers and television stations. That process is ongoing. If Bain and Lee purchase Tribune, they may be forced to sell certain newspapers and television stations to comply with Federal Communications Commission regulations that prohibit one company from owning a newspaper and radio or television station in the same city. The buyers paid $37.60 per share for Clear Channel, the highest price the stock has seen since mid-2004, and a 25 percent premium on the stock's average price in October. The purchase price includes the assumption of about $8 billion in debt."

Mitt Romney gets his own media empire

[Squirmy McPhee]

Bain Capital is a private equity firm that was founded by Mitt Romney, outgoing governor of Massachusetts and 2008 presidential hopeful. (Last year they tried to buy the entire National Hockey League.) I guess we can't really know how meaningful that is until the 2008 election is upon us, but a presidential candidate with his own network of radio stations is courting controversy to say the least.

"Private investors" = Mays Family

[Anonymous Coward]

The group of investors is the Mays family. I am a former employee who still has many contacts there. In another deal, some of their assets will be in new hands, but only a 10% part of it which is under-performing. These include the CC Television and some 448 radio stations.

Re:Mitt Romney gets his own media empire

[EVil Lawyer]

This is just a tiny stretch. Mitt founded Bain but he doesn't have any control of the organization now. He is not even a member of the firm at this point. Not to mention Bain is only one of a number of private equity firms in the consortium that's purchasing Clear Channel.

Some alternate alternatives

[doom]

computertheque wrote:

Does this mean that we'll get some decent radio stations back? Clear Channel effectively ruined the radio for me, NPR being the only remaining reason to turn it on.

Well, for me that would be Democracy Now! [democracynow.org], which you can may be able to hear broadcast somewhere, depending on where you live, e.g. KPFA [kpfa.org], in the SF Bay Area, and WBAI [wbai.org] in the New York area. In general, the Pacifica stations do a decent job of "alternative" broadcasting, provided you don't mind the almost exclusively left-wing focus.

Also, there are many, many small college stations (and other non-coms) scattered around, usually located at the bottom of the dial. They also all have internet streams these days:

• KZSU [kzsu.org]
• KFJC [kfjc.org]
• WFMU [wfmu.org]
• WREK [wrek.org]
• WRCT [wrct.org]
• KALX [kalx.org]
• KUSF [kusf.org]
• WNUR [wnur.org]
• KSPC [kspc.org]
• KXLU [kxlu.com]
• WPRB [wprb.org]
• KTRU [ktru.org]
• KALW [kalw.org]