Slashdot Mirror
Clear Channel Goes Private and Streamlined
7Prime writes "Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nations largest radio, billboard, and entertainment outlet, announced their intention this morning to sell the company to a consortium of private-equity firms for over $26 billion. In addition, Clear Channel's TV division, as well as its smallest 448 radio stations would be sold out of the company and will be looking for potential buyers." From the article: "The buyers, led by Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, also are bidding for Tribune Co., which owns several newspapers and television stations. That process is ongoing. If Bain and Lee purchase Tribune, they may be forced to sell certain newspapers and television stations to comply with Federal Communications Commission regulations that prohibit one company from owning a newspaper and radio or television station in the same city. The buyers paid $37.60 per share for Clear Channel, the highest price the stock has seen since mid-2004, and a 25 percent premium on the stock's average price in October. The purchase price includes the assumption of about $8 billion in debt."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_deemed_ inappropriate_by_Clear_Channel_following_the_Septe mber_11%2C_2001_attacks
(List of all songs banned by CC post 9/11)
Right. And if the president of the company you work for tacks a memo on the message board telling you not to do something, what do YOU do? Clear Channel was never about playing what people wanted to listen to, it was all about dictating what people were able to hear through a commercially and politically motivated ideology. And I doubt that will change just because the evil changed hands.