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Comcast To Buy CC???
- Thread starter Mac Daddy
- Start date
I am not sure if Comcast could pull off buying Clear Channel in the feds eyes.. Wouldn't there be ownership issues in some markets with Comcast in the TV business?
Then I guess the obvious question. Is CBS Radio a separate entity of CBS Corporation?
Though I suppose since both the television network and radio corporation have ran since the inception of the media, I could see where a company like Comcast would have an issue since they have the peacock, a couple of cable networks and cable systems.
Though I suppose since both the television network and radio corporation have ran since the inception of the media, I could see where a company like Comcast would have an issue since they have the peacock, a couple of cable networks and cable systems.
To get this kind of deal done would certainly put a lot of stations in play!
Tony Santiago said:
Yes but NBC/Comcast is involved in a lot more than CBS is.
Shredder said:
I'm not sure I follow where you're going here. Clear's total number of stations has been declining considerably for several years now as the company has unloaded smaller markets all over the country. It's been out of northern New England and Utica, for instance, for three years or so. It's been more than a decade since Clear tried to "buy as many radio stations as it could." The company has been very judicious in its purchasing in recent years. Its two big purchases in 2012 were both very strategic pickups in top-ten markets (101.7 Boston and WOR) where it owned less than a full portfolio, and both purchases were made at prices far lower than the market peak in 2007.
Back to the original thrust of the thread: the difference between CBS TV/CBS Radio and Comcast/Clear Channel is that CBS consciously built its radio clusters in TV markets with an eye toward the cross-ownership caps. Clear has built its clusters up to the radio-only maximums in most of its biggest markets, which means there would have to be spinoffs to get under the joint radio/TV caps if those clusters were combined with the two TVs that Comcast/NBC owns in most of those same markets.
That's not automatically a deal-breaker. In many cases, a combined Comcast/CC could get under the cap by shedding AMs. In New York, Clear could probably keep all five of its NYC FMs and WOR along with WNBC and WNJU. The real effects would be felt on the fringes, where I suspect Comcast wouldn't be able to keep Clear's Hudson Valley and northwest NJ clusters and might also have to speed up its sale of WALK. Same deal in southern California, where Clear has a sizable (and fairly profitable) cluster of stations in Riverside/San Bernardino. Those stations can be co-owned with Clear Channel LA because they're in separate Arbitron markets, but the TV-radio rules look instead at signal overlap, of which there's plenty.
In any event, Comcast would have to have the appetite for CC's considerable debt load, and I don't see that happening, either.
Scott Fybush said:
With the understanding that this is just a rumor....
Most of the posts are assuming that if this were to happen, that Comcast would buy the entire company. I doubt any sane company would ever consider buying the entire company. Why? In addition to the debt they'd have to assume, they'd also have to take on a large number of absolute, money-losing doorstop stations in small markets.
There is no rule that a company like Comcast has to buy everything. They can cherry pick. CC will have to pay down their debt some day. They're not going to be able to cut costs to do that. They have to sell some assets. This might indicate the start of that sell off.
Then again, one needn't actually BUY stations to accomplish any goals Comcast might want to accomplish. ESPN proved that with Emmis. In other words, there are many options available. In the bigger picture, one of Comcast's rivals in the cable marketplace is Liberty Media, which has entered the radio business with its stock purchase of Sirius-XM. Is there a connection between that and these Comcast rumors?
Would Clear consider selling Premiere and/or Outdoor? I'd think that's where the most revenue potential is.
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