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Could Greenville SC iHeart stations be on the market?

I HIGHLY doubt iHeart would exit Charlotte. That is a solid, top cluster. WHQC, WRFX, WLKO are all strong performers. WKKT doesn't do badly and WEND is an alright performer. Same for the Triad and Raleigh-Durham, although their performance has been less impressive.

Harrisonburg, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Winchester and Asheville I could see as those are pretty small markets. I have long though iHeart will eventually exit most markets outside of the top 100.

Greenville, though, is complicated. WMYI and WROO don't perform extremely well, but are decent signals. WSSL is a cash cow and kills it in the ratings. WESC gets decent numbers but I wonder how well they bill considering the older audience they target. Plus, GSP is market #59. I would expect Myrtle Beach, Columbia, and Charleston to go before GSP.

Regardless, I don't think this region would be limited to selloffs. Who would even buy the stations? Definitely not Cumulus, Beasley is highly unlikely, Entercom is going through the merger with CBS....who's left? Alpha? Saga? Summit can't even run what they have.
 
I was the first to discuss this topic in another thread and stirred up a rumor mill.

Given SummitMedia's new investor and their plans to expand their radio holdings, I could see them acquire iHeartMedia's Greenville cluster while spinning a couple stations.

Saga already owns clusters in Asheville and Harrisonburg. Winchester, Roanoke-Lynchburg, and Norfolk seem possible, but Saga would have to spin some stations in Norfolk.
 
TheBigA said:
Just yesterday, iHeart extended it's offer to refinance its debt:

http://www.radiodiscussions.com/sho...nsion-Comes-On-iHeart-Offers&highlight=iheart

As long as they're working on debt for equity, any sale of assets would change the value of the company. If they make a deal, then some sales are possible.

But until then, I wouldn't expect any stations to be sold.
Click to expand...

Hopefully by then, Radio Insight will confirm the news that iHeartMedia is planning a sale of some of their radio stations.
 
TheBigA said:
The source you should look to for confirmation is the company making the sale. That is the official confirmation that a sale has happened.
Click to expand...

Radio Insight is my primary source for radio-related news, so I usually go there first to read the latest headlines in the radio industry.
 
101tm said:
Entercom is going through the merger with CBS
Click to expand...

But when the merger closes, Entercom will need to divest stations, and I did mention before that Entercom could swap some of their divestitures with iHeartMedia. Although I was told Entercom doesn't want smaller market stations, it would be easier for Entercom to receive smaller market stations from iHeartMedia, and they can later trade the smaller market stations to someone else.
 
miketheradioguy said:
But when the merger closes, Entercom will need to divest stations,
Click to expand...

Or put them in a trust, which is most likely. Both iHeart and Cumulus put a bunch of their stations in a trust, and quite a few are still there.

Entercom could keep them in the trust for years. There is no reason for Entercom to trade with anyone, especially if it means getting stations in markets they don't want. Buying, selling, and trading cost money. You have broker fees, lawyer fees, engineering fees, and more. No reason to spend money if you don't have to.
 
TheBigA said:
Or put them in a trust, which is most likely. Both iHeart and Cumulus put a bunch of their stations in a trust, and quite a few are still there.

Entercom could keep them in the trust for years. There is no reason for Entercom to trade with anyone, especially if it means getting stations in markets they don't want. Buying, selling, and trading cost money. You have broker fees, lawyer fees, engineering fees, and more. No reason to spend money if you don't have to.
Click to expand...

Most of the stations Entercom will divest could sell fast. In fact, David Field said that Entercom has finalized their divestiture plans following the merger, which hints that Entercom already has deals in place when they receive the final approval from the DOJ to close the merger and may not need to place as many stations in the trust.

As for iHeartMedia, they still have some stations sitting on the Aloha Station Trust when they were going private and lost their grandfathered status in those markets.

The Last Bastion trust was formed when Citadel acquired ABC's radio stations a decade ago, and most of the stations in the trust were in markets where Citadel lost their grandfathered status. KINB near Oklahoma City was sold to Perry Broadcasting at the end of March earlier this year, and the trust currently has a pair of Little Rock FMs.

Much of Cumulus' stations that were sitting in the trust when they acquired Citadel have already been sold, the last two were in Myrtle Beach. Most of the stations Cumulus divested were in grandfathered markets while some were in overlapping markets, such as Harrisburg, Nashville, New York City, and Dallas-Fort Worth.
 
miketheradioguy said:
Most of the stations Entercom will divest could sell fast. In fact, David Field said that Entercom has finalized their divestiture plans following the merger, which hints that Entercom already has deals in place when they receive the final approval from the DOJ to close the merger and may not need to place as many stations in the trust.
Click to expand...

But there is no indication that ANY of those deals involve iHeart. Right?

And as of now, CBS hasn't even received approval from its stockholders to even make the deal with Entercom, Right?

So we are a LONG way from anything right now. And Entercom doesn't "NEED" to do anything.
 
TheBigA said:
But there is no indication that ANY of those deals involve iHeart. Right?

And as of now, CBS hasn't even received approval from its stockholders to even make the deal with Entercom, Right?

So we are a LONG way from anything right now. And Entercom doesn't "NEED" to do anything.
Click to expand...

We don't even know what Entercom's actual divestiture plan is yet.

The shareholder vote has been up since June, although I'm more focused on Entercom and CBS getting the regulatory approval, which is what matters the most at this point.
 
miketheradioguy said:
I understand, and most of the stations being in the trust could sell fast due to them being in large markets.
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Or they may not sell because they're overpriced for the current market. That's why a lot of groups didn't buy them directly from CBS.

As I have said several times, one option you haven't considered is spinning the overflow stations to top station managers, which is what Cox did. I have a sense that some of the top CBS GMs have the expertise to run their own group, and would like the opportunity. It would make financial sense to Entercom.
 
TheBigA said:
Or they may not sell because they're overpriced for the current market. That's why a lot of groups didn't buy them directly from CBS.

As I have said several times, one option you haven't considered is spinning the overflow stations to top station managers, which is what Cox did. I have a sense that some of the top CBS GMs have the expertise to run their own group, and would like the opportunity. It would make financial sense to Entercom.
Click to expand...

OK, so how about if iHeartMedia considers a similar move for the Virginia/Carolina region, where they spin their small market stations in the region to the top station managers.
 
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