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K.M. Richards
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I'd expect that in Los Angeles, Entercom will be very interested, as will Cumulus. Both are under market limits and at least one of them can afford to buy.
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CBS to sell entire radio group
- Thread starter davideduardo
- Start date
K
kf4rca
Guest
What about KMOX St Louis? Its STILL a clear channel (the Cubans have not stomped on that frequency- yet). They're the midwest blowtorch. I bet they skip out to the east and west coasts at night. Seems to be successful. I hear lots of spots (and lots of sports). Does that mean Johnny Rabbit will be out of a job???
KDKA may have a new owner for the first time in it's 95 year history. Interesting.
So we can see changes in
KCBS, KNX, KMOX, WCBS, WINS and others around the US
KCBS, KNX, KMOX, WCBS, WINS and others around the US
No. The CBS stations in their vast majority are successful and very profitable. Any purchaser is going to use the existing cash flow to support a purchase loan and is not going to make major changes.
If it is successful, it is because of the listening in the St Louis market, not the night skip signal that can't be monetized. Why would anyone change a successful station that is making money?
Will Beasley expand to Orlando and Miami, as all other companies (iHeart and Cox) are fully occupied. Will this be the end of AMP Radio and Radio.com?
WQMP is doing very well, considering how many new music they put in their playlist, so selling them would be a total drop in new music.
Why are the Miami stations being sold (again), 2 years after the CBS-Beasley trade?!
Lots of questions to be answered here...
BTW, this is my 100th post, YAY!
WQMP is doing very well, considering how many new music they put in their playlist, so selling them would be a total drop in new music.
Why are the Miami stations being sold (again), 2 years after the CBS-Beasley trade?!
Lots of questions to be answered here...
BTW, this is my 100th post, YAY!
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Nice to know, Thanks David
Too soon to know. Remember, a spinoff doesn't even have to be a sale in the traditional sense. CBS could simply split the radio division into its own company owned by the same shareholders and most of the same management. That would be similar to what Cox did with its cable division and the Gannett/TEGNA split from a year or two ago. Of course, something like that often leads to a sale down the road (think Scripps/Journal and how Journal got gobbled up by Gannett), but it doesn't have to.
Simple, both CBS and Beasley made the Philadelphia/Miami for Tampa/Charlotte swap because both parties agreed it would better their value as a company.
And the swap was a tax-friendly swap of assets which gave CBS more radio in markets where they already own TV stations.
Then, to sell them soon to other (unknown) owners. Talk about a...um...let's just say...a loophole.
iHeart, Entercom, and Cox too full.
Whoever buys KDKA should make major changes. At present it is a 50,000 watt
paid infomercial machine.
KDKA is the second highest biller in the market. Why would anyone want to make anything except minor changes to it?
Then, to sell them soon to other (unknown) owners. Talk about a...um...let's just say...a loophole.
That is not a loophole. If a like kind transfer is made, each asset remains at the previously established value. If they are sold for more than that, the capital gains are taxable.
Then, to sell them soon to other (unknown) owners. Talk about a...um...let's just say...a loophole.
iHeart, Entercom, and Cox too full.
As David points out, it's not a loophole. What happens in a like-kind swap is that the new property swaps base values with the old one. A good example of this for CBS is some of the stations it acquired in the mid-90's. Since it paid high multiples for a lot of those stations, it wouldn't incur the tax liabilities for selling those stations off that it would for some of the legacy holdings.
One exception, however, is what's now Bloomberg 99.1 in Washington DC. Because it was acquired as part of a swap with the former SFX Broadcasting involving the former KTXQ and KRRW in Dallas (one a legacy CBS station, the other swapped for a legacy CBS station in the early 90's), it likely has the base value of either KTXQ or the long-gone WYNF 94.9 in Tampa. So, selling it would likely incur a high capital gains tax because even today's prices are more than what it paid to acquire those stations.
To put it into perspective, in either '77 or '78, KBEQ 104.3 in Kansas City set the record for the highest price ever paid for a standalone FM. It was sold for $7 million. CBS already had what was then a full compliment of 7 FM's, and none were acquired for anywhere near that price. Even some of the stations it acquired in the 80's were for around that price. Can you imagine what they'd sell for today? Even at a preferential capital gains tax rate, the tax bill due would be staggering. Plus, capital gains can only be canceled out by capital and ordinary losses and, unless things have changed (and I'm not an accountant; so, they could have), a corporation can only carry a capital loss forward for three years. So, CBS can't use the losses it took on stations 10 years ago to offset the gains it would make by selling more stations today.
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And that may be why a spin off, as opposed to a piecemeal sell off, may happen. Selling piecemeal will trigger taxes whereas a spinoff will not.
CBS Radio is extremely well managed. As an independent company with no debt, they could position their stock with a reasonably high dividend and attract investors that way. Clearly it's not a growth medium but there is value, and a viable strategy to keeping it together.
CBS Radio is extremely well managed. As an independent company with no debt, they could position their stock with a reasonably high dividend and attract investors that way. Clearly it's not a growth medium but there is value, and a viable strategy to keeping it together.
I am guessing you do not live in Pittsburgh, and thus do not have to listen to it.
Once that cadre of elderly people whose dials are permanently frozen on 1020 go on to their
eternal reward, they've got serious trouble.
Their former news director told me that they lose ten listeners a day via the obituary column.
How is that different from any other AM station?
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