Audacy just filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

[raccoonradio]

Appearing on the internet talk show Stu's Show, TV expert Steve Beverly mentioned the high cost of cable--sports teams pay big bucks to athletes and charge big rights fees to TV networks and stations--and "Grandma" may have no desire to pay higher cable rates for sports networks she doesn't want to watch.
Cable TV--and satellite radio--have different tiers of channel lineups. High prices and not a la carte --you can't save money by picking only channels you want.
The big corporations--Comcast-NBC, Disney etc all want their channels on there.

One NFL playoff game will be streaming only--on Peacock. Some will refuse to pay even a small amount for it--though maybe it would be a free trial for all. And maybe an OTA station can carry it in the markets involved.

I pay $29/mo for full XM because I listen enough to justify $1 per day. There are cheaper tiers. But I can't say "give me about 40 channels of what I most listen to and charge me $12". No, you have to go to certain tiers, no a la carte.
People may decide not to get a bunch of streaming services and opt instead for FAST--Free Ad Supported Television. Pick a movie you want to see and decide:
$3 to $4 or more to "rent" on your cable
OR
Free on Tubi but with limited commercial interruptions.

"Ad coming in 1 minute"
After 60 or 90 seconds of ads, sometimes more, it resumes.
And people are "cutting the cord""--
streaming services including FAST.

 

[TheBigA]

The suits at CBS decided in 2016 to bail on radio and hoped a village idiot would bite on taking over and they found him in Philadelphia.

That's not exactly true. In 2016, CBS had decided to spin off CBS Radio into its own company. That was the plan, and for that plan, the CBS Corporation took out a loan of $2 billion.

CBS Submits SEC Filing To Spin Off Its Radio Unit

Never mind the threats to the radio business from Sirius XM, Pandora, and podcasts. CBS tells Wall Street in an SEC filing today that will offer a good deal soon when it spins off CBS Radio — creating a new public offering for the business that dates back to 1927, and became a national power...

deadline.com

The Entercom offer came later.

Entercom Reveals Step By Step Details Of Merger With CBS Radio.

In a nearly 300-page filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Entercom details the blow-by-blow of the complicated financial maneuver it will undertake to merge with CBS Radio. Entercom’s Registration

www.insideradio.com

 

[CTListener]

One NFL playoff game will be streaming only--on Peacock. Some will refuse to pay even a small amount for it--though maybe it would be a free trial for all. And maybe an OTA station can carry it in the markets involved.

Isn't the whole purpose of the Peacock-exclusive playoff game to attract paying customers to Peacock? A freebie would be unproductive. No one is going to subscribe after seeing one NFL game free on Peacock unless Comcast/NBC announces that all Monday night games next season are to be Peacock exclusives as well.

Are Kansas City and Miami residents going to get the game on their local NBC affiliates or is this a true Peacock exclusive?

 

[raccoonradio]

Good points; there was some kind of MLB channel free trial at one point.
TheAthletic:
>>The game, set to kick off at 8 p.m. ET at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday, will only be aired on NBC stations in Kansas City and Miami.Everyone else hoping to watch the defending champions’ start their playoff run will have to pay a subscription fee for the game.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Are Kansas City and Miami residents going to get the game on their local NBC affiliates or is this a true Peacock exclusive?

The game will be available OTA in both markets.

 

[BostonRadioListener]

What we've seen in the Diamond Sports bankruptcy is a company doesn't have to completely dump a sports deal if it's bad. They can use the bankruptcy to bring the team back to the table and redo the deal in a more favorable way.

This could be the end game. And It could be the Six

And that's a whole different issue that's going to affect broadcast sports rights going forward. Stations and networks are pushing back at leagues and teams about the unbridled escalation of rights fees. Teams and leagues felt they could rely on jacking it to the broadcasters and networks to make up for escalating player salaries, but given a changing ad market, that assumption is proving to be unsustainable.

100% yes. Now spike that with a last place team in a hyper competitive sports market…with an over leveraged parent who just filed for BK…..

 

[BostonRadioListener]

Plus they're betting that Field can rebuild the company to where it was 5 years ago.

I expect to see they've arranged a bonus structure that rewards him if it happens.

However one feels about Audacy, Field has put his money behind his words. He is all-in. He’s bought TONS of stock on the open market at full price with his own money…repeatedly,,,at prices literally 100 times higher than present. He certainly believes in the business. And it’s cost him a lot of money.

 

[gr8oldies]

Appearing on the internet talk show Stu's Show, TV expert Steve Beverly mentioned the high cost of cable--sports teams pay big bucks to athletes and charge big rights fees to TV networks and stations--and "Grandma" may have no desire to pay higher cable rates for sports networks she doesn't want to watch.
Cable TV--and satellite radio--have different tiers of channel lineups. High prices and not a la carte --you can't save money by picking only channels you want.
The big corporations--Comcast-NBC, Disney etc all want their channels on there.

One NFL playoff game will be streaming only--on Peacock. Some will refuse to pay even a small amount for it--though maybe it would be a free trial for all. And maybe an OTA station can carry it in the markets involved.

I pay $29/mo for full XM because I listen enough to justify $1 per day. There are cheaper tiers. But I can't say "give me about 40 channels of what I most listen to and charge me $12". No, you have to go to certain tiers, no a la carte.
People may decide not to get a bunch of streaming services and opt instead for FAST--Free Ad Supported Television. Pick a movie you want to see and decide:
$3 to $4 or more to "rent" on your cable
OR
Free on Tubi but with limited commercial interruptions.

"Ad coming in 1 minute"
After 60 or 90 seconds of ads, sometimes more, it resumes.
And people are "cutting the cord""--
streaming services including FAST.

I gert everything but Howard and MLB for about $80 a year

 

[EnterCommunicator]

I gert everything but Howard and MLB for about $80 a year

Same. Every year when my yearly renewal came up I just called and told them I want to cancel. After a minute or two they offer the same discount from the year prior that was $8 a month.
I normally wouldn't resort to this tactic but the first time I actually tried to cancel my subscription it was this endless dialogue with someone in the Philippines who was clearly reading off cue cards with various responses to not allowing the customer to cancel that went on forever. "I just want to cancel" "Ok sir, I understand but what could we do to retain you?" "I just want to cancel" "Ok sir, I understand but have you considered ___ ?" "I just want to cancel." "Ok sir, what if I was able to offer you the same service for........." on and on and on.
But for whatever it's worth we changed cars last month so when I called to cancel I just told them we no longer owned the car so needed to cancel and they did so in a relatively quick measure.

 

[nowradioguy]

That's not exactly true. In 2016, CBS had decided to spin off CBS Radio into its own company. That was the plan, and for that plan, the CBS Corporation took out a loan of $2 billion.

CBS Submits SEC Filing To Spin Off Its Radio Unit

Never mind the threats to the radio business from Sirius XM, Pandora, and podcasts. CBS tells Wall Street in an SEC filing today that will offer a good deal soon when it spins off CBS Radio — creating a new public offering for the business that dates back to 1927, and became a national power...

deadline.com

The Entercom offer came later.

Entercom Reveals Step By Step Details Of Merger With CBS Radio.

In a nearly 300-page filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Entercom details the blow-by-blow of the complicated financial maneuver it will undertake to merge with CBS Radio. Entercom’s Registration

www.insideradio.com

Would that CBS Radio had been able to be spun off a stand-alone company!

 

[Lefty61]

Here are Audacy's Material Contracts, Radio Insight has already noted the Mets agreement has been restructured, I assume others on this are being negotiated. Any thoughts on whether any of the Sports agreements could be rejected? How should affiliate stations protect themselves?

 

[raccoonradio]

I had a 3 mo free trial of SXM when I got a used car and when it expired I was offered something like 1 yr at about $7/mo. after fees so I took it. I then went to Mostly Music or whatever for $19/mo.
then expanded it to full package, $29, and I get NFL, more MLB, etc. Made use of it.
Yes you can take advantage of the special offers.
Wish it were truly a l carte
I guess there's a lawsuit against them for
the painfully long phone calls where you try to quit but they keep trying to have you change your mind etc

Redirect Notice

30 min phone calls or
11 min to try to cancel online (NY).
Company disputes this

>>According to SiriusXM, many of the statistics cited in the attorney general’s lawsuit are exaggerated and, based on the 2020 time period that the state investigated, aggravated by the effects of the COVID pandemic. In 2021, on average, SiriusXM online chat agents responded to consumer messages within 36 seconds to 2.4 minutes, per the company.(Variety)

 

[PrevueTalk]

if Audacy is Sold in Pieces They Should go with Corus because CBS programming is on Global and Paramount licensed Nickelodeon in Canada while keeping a 10% in CMT

 

[RadioGuyForLife]

Why is everyone so convinced that David Field will be around to rebuild Audacy?

 

[TheBigA]

if Audacy is Sold in Pieces

It won't be.

 

[TheBigA]

Why is everyone so convinced that David Field will be around to rebuild Audacy?

That's a fair question. Apparently he hasn't signed his employment agreement with the lenders, and they have set a deadline for that to happen. I think it's the end of February. It can be hard to go from being a part owner to an employee of the same company.

 

[BostonRadioListener]

And that's a whole different issue that's going to affect broadcast sports rights going forward. Stations and networks are pushing back at leagues and teams about the unbridled escalation of rights fees. Teams and leagues felt they could rely on jacking it to the broadcasters and networks to make up for escalating player salaries, but given a changing ad market, that assumption is proving to be unsustainable.

Yes on all points , but in an EXAGGERATED sense with the Red Sox. They paid a huge broadcast rights fee for a team that WAS HUGE in this market til recently—and has absolutely plummeted in local popularity thanks to 3 last place finishes in 4 years.

They paid a premium for these rights and I presume they’d walk away from it in a second if they could given the competitive position of the team, the station, and the financial shape of the corporate owner. They spend many months selling spots just to cover the fee. If it’s ever covered. It’s a huge burden now. It’s not 2018 anymore. That’s ancient history. Sox are a deep number four in this market. So even the halo benefit across day parts is massively reduced. Look at the ratings in season…

 

[CTListener]

Yes on all points , but in an EXAGGERATED sense with the Red Sox. They paid a huge broadcast rights fee for a team that WAS HUGE in this market til recently—and has absolutely plummeted in local popularity thanks to 3 last place finishes in 4 years.

I sense that the most popular theory about the team's decline and the apparent reluctance of ownership to throw money at the problem (which has a mixed record of success in baseball, I admit) is that co-owned Liverpool FC, a global brand, is taking priority over the Red Sox, especially in soccer's crucial January transfer window. What benefits the bottom line most: signing a star midfielder and striker to bolster Liverpool's chances of winning the Premier League and Champions League, or spending the same kind of money on a star pitcher and slugging outfielder to help the Red Sox maybe challenge for a wild card playoff berth? Given soccer's huge lead over baseball in overall fan interest worldwide, ownership might be doing the right thing here, in strictly financial terms.

 

[Lefty61]

I sense that the most popular theory about the team's decline and the apparent reluctance of ownership to throw money at the problem (which has a mixed record of success in baseball, I admit) is that co-owned Liverpool FC, a global brand, is taking priority over the Red Sox, especially in soccer's crucial January transfer window. What benefits the bottom line most: signing a star midfielder and striker to bolster Liverpool's chances of winning the Premier League and Champions League, or spending the same kind of money on a star pitcher and slugging outfielder to help the Red Sox maybe challenge for a wild card playoff berth? Given soccer's huge lead over baseball in overall fan interest worldwide, ownership might be doing the right thing here, in strictly financial terms.

That would be like failing to maintain a building in a different market because rental values are lower, seems like if you are going to own multiple teams, and Sox ownership also owns the Pittsburgh Penquins, they should be ready to maximize value and interest in each market. So which one goes on the market first, the one they are investing the most in, or the one they barely maintain and operate on history and hope?

 

[PTBoardOp93]

They paid a premium for these rights and I presume they’d walk away from it in a second if they could given the competitive position of the team, the station, and the financial shape of the corporate owner. They spend many months selling spots just to cover the fee. If it’s ever covered.

The good news is, they can petition the bankruptcy court to cancel the contract. Whether they will or not, I have no idea. But that is one of the tools provided by bankruptcy law.