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iHeartMedia Seeks To Increase Its Foreign Ownership

Y2kTheNewOldies

Y2kTheNewOldies

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/184719/iheartmedia-seeks-to-increase-its-foreign-ownership/


iHeartMedia has filed a petition for declaratory ruling with the FCC to allow it to exceed the maximum foreign ownership limit of 25%.

iHeart is seeking FCC approval for foreign investors to own up to 100% of its equity and voting interests, and specific approval for certain foreign investors that seek to directly or indirectly hold more than 10% of the company’s equity, and/or hold equity interests that will cause them to be deemed to hold more than 10% of iHeart’s voting rights.
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Note this is pending with the FCC.
 
This may relate to the Liberty Media discussions. Liberty Media also owns Sirius and Pandora. When Pandora bought a radio station in South Dakota in 2014, foreign ownership was an issue, because Pandora couldn't identify the nationality of all stockholders. They went through a similar procedure. See below link.

https://radioink.com/2014/07/29/1105/
 
umfan said:
https://www.law360.com/articles/1247282/iheartmedia-seeks-fcc-blessing-to-be-foreign-owned


The FCC needs to kill this, IMO. There really is no reason to grant it. A denial may mean Pittman will seek a breakup of the company separating the nascent digital platform from the underlying broadcast stations. Not sure that could be executed, but there simply is no legitimate reason for the FCC to consider approving this.
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Theres no reason for them not to approve it and if they don't, Iheart will try again.. the FCC has granted mexican citizens the right to own 100 percent of an FM in Arizona and 100 percent of one California along with australian citizens owning 100 percent of stations in alaska and texas. the FCC has set a precedent and they more or less have to grant IHeart's request
 
Would Absolute Radio U.S. be that bad of an idea? That doesn't seem to be what's happening in this case but there are overseas companies that could expand.
 
Pandora isn't an apt comparison. Pandora had few broadcast outlets at the time and only bought a few for basically test purposes.

Both Cumulus and iHeart are primarily broadcast station owners. Cumulus doesn't have a unified digital platform as iHeart does. I doubt this gets approved.

You asserted it was 'typically' approved yet then offered only one example which wasn't exactly germane to the topic at hand. I find scant evidence that such waivers on foreign ownership limits are 'typically' approved.
 
umfan said:
I find scant evidence that such waivers on foreign ownership limits are 'typically' approved.
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The one I was thinking of was Univision, although it was for 40% foreign ownership, not 100. Post #4 above referenced two others. Here's a link to a story about a 100% waiver in 2017:

https://www.broadcastlawblog.com/20...0-foreign-ownership-of-us-broadcast-stations/

As I said earlier in this thread, the Pandora case is relevant because it's likely this request may relate to the Liberty Media purchase of iHeart, and Liberty also owns Pandora.

The other thing to note is that this particular FCC has been seeking to loosen ownership laws. Had it not been for a challenge by Prometheus, the newspaper-broadcast cross ownership rule would have been repealed. So based on that, it seems pretty fair to say that the FCC will approve this request.
 
I'll take your response as walking back your assertion that such transactions are 'typically' approved since that is clearly not the case and you didn't support it when called out.

Pandora still isn't an apt comparison regardless of the Liberty Media comparison. Pandora had a scant broadcast presence and existed then, and now, as primarily an internet outlet not subject to FCC regulation. They easily could've just jettisoned their broadcast asset.

SomeRadioGuy:

"the FCC has set a precedent and they more or less have to grant IHeart's request "

Huh?!? When has the FCC 'set a precedent' for a broadcaster with even 10% of the scale of iHeart to have majority foreign ownership?

Look it up. I'll wait.
 
umfan said:
I'll take your response as walking back your assertion that such transactions are 'typically' approved since that is clearly not the case and you didn't support it when called out.

Pandora still isn't an apt comparison regardless of the Liberty Media comparison. Pandora had a scant broadcast presence and existed then, and now, as primarily an internet outlet not subject to FCC regulation. They easily could've just jettisoned their broadcast asset.

SomeRadioGuy:

"the FCC has set a precedent and they more or less have to grant IHeart's request "

Huh?!? When has the FCC 'set a precedent' for a broadcaster with even 10% of the scale of iHeart to have majority foreign ownership?

Look it up. I'll wait.
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The FCC did not blink an eye when allowing Televisa to own 38% of Univision. There are a small number of stations in TX, FL, AK, etc., that are 100% foreign owned. It would seem unlikely that the FCC would not allow further foreign investment as they have set precedent already.

Further, there are a number of owners of large groups that may have more than 25% foreign ownership without knowing it as they can't tell who trust account owners of shares really are.
 
umfan said:
I'll take your response as walking back your assertion that such transactions are 'typically' approved since that is clearly not the case and you didn't support it when called out.
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Conversely how many recent examples can you site of the FCC denying the waiver? It's not a request they get frequently, so if the only examples we know of were approved, then they are typically approved.
 
TheBigA said:
The one I was thinking of was Univision, although it was for 40% foreign ownership, not 100. Post #4 above referenced two others. Here's a link to a story about a 100% waiver in 2017:

https://www.broadcastlawblog.com/20...0-foreign-ownership-of-us-broadcast-stations/

As I said earlier in this thread, the Pandora case is relevant because it's likely this request may relate to the Liberty Media purchase of iHeart, and Liberty also owns Pandora.

The other thing to note is that this particular FCC has been seeking to loosen ownership laws. Had it not been for a challenge by Prometheus, the newspaper-broadcast cross ownership rule would have been repealed. So based on that, it seems pretty fair to say that the FCC will approve this request.
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The newspaper-broadcast cross ownership rule should have been repealed long, long ago! Of course, as things with the industries are now, it doesn't much matter. Right?
 
TheBigA said:
Conversely how many recent examples can you site of the FCC denying the waiver? It's not a request they get frequently, so if the only examples we know of were approved, then they are typically approved.
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If there haven't been any considered on this scale, because there haven't been any requests, then approval isn't 'typical' as there is no baseline to compare it to. You, not me, were the one that asserted such approvals were typical. So, document several like this that have been approved and I'll concede the point. If you cannot do so, you should walk back your characterization of such approvals as being typical.

In any case, the foreign ownership provisions exist for a reason. They aren't something the Commission should waive. There's no apparent compelling reason for them to do so and the ownership of hundreds of broadcast stations is involved.
 
umfan said:
In any case, the foreign ownership provisions exist for a reason. They aren't something the Commission should waive. There's no apparent compelling reason for them to do so and the ownership of hundreds of broadcast stations is involved.
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Lots of rules exist for reasons. Government funding of public broadcasting exists for a reason. Yet when I point that out, you say that whatever reason is unimportant, and rules can change. The same thinking can be applied here. Based on the precedents given, based on the reasons given in the application, and based on the goals of the majority of the current FCC commissioners, I'm expecting approval. If not, iHeart's Rush Limbaugh can make a big deal about it on his radio show, and that might make an impression on someone who can get it done.
 
Rush's show is his own. iheart simply has the syndication rights. Don't look for Rush to be shilling for this on iHeart's behalf.
 
Why don't you see the Department of Justice seeking to intervene as potentially adverse to iHeart's request? Please do share your thought process on this. iHeart asked the FCC to approve. As I documented, DoJ asked the Commission to defer action because it may intervene. This only delays and complicates the request. So it's not an impact, how, exactly?
 
If not, iHeart's Rush Limbaugh can make a big deal about it on his radio show
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TheBigA said:
It doesn't have to be Rush himself. Consider how many iHeart stations are conservative talk stations. Those stations get people to take action every day.
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Serious question, do you make comments intending to contradict yourself shortly thereafter? I'm asking because in one post you say, clearly that Rush can make a big deal about it on his show. Then, the fact the should've been obvious that Rush was unlikely to do this on iHeart's behalf, you post a contradictory comment. iHeart could, of course place announcements asking their listeners to comment to the FCC about this. It doesn't need to just be on their talk stations.
 
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