News & Views
Clear Channel Banks - Blame it On the Judge
The six banks involved in financing the private equity deal say they would like to negotiate a new agreement but they can’t because of a temporary restraining order issued by a Texas Judge. We found this article in the Wall Street Journal blogs that provides the best clarity about what’s really going on. The links in the article provide everything from the restraining order to internal memos. To read click here
Interep Goes Private - Citadel Now All Katz
Interep goes private after two large bondholders forgive nearly $100 million in debt. Interep CEO David Kennedy says the restructuring comes with $25 million on cash infusion and won’t effect employees or clients.
In an unrelated move, Citadel moves all of its stations to the Katz Media Group.
Clear Channel says deal may not close, on Judge Support Until April 8th
Clear Channel Thanks to a ruling from a Texas judge, banks cannot prevent the closing of the $19 billion+ Clear Channel deal with Lee and Bain. The banks were balking on funding causing Clear Channel and the private equity folks to sue the banks.
An expedited hearing is set for April 8th. Six banks are involved. Those supposedly in the know say this still does not mean the deal will go through. The bankers were a no show for a Friday meeting. Bloomberg
XM Sirius Merger - Friends with Benefits?
Call them friends of the court filings. Eleven state Attorneys General want the FCC to deny the deal because the Justice Department didn’t require XM and Sirius to build interoperable receivers (they’ve been working on this for years); offer a la carte pricing (Mel brought this up); and what they really want. What they really want is for one of them to go away.  Of course, that’s under the “free up the spectrum for more competition” reasoning.
Clear Channel is asking the FCC to place restrictions on the merger including tougher decency standards, mandatory public interest programming, and to give up space to competitors. Clear Channel was an early investor in XM and was fined for comments made by Howard Stern before he went to Sirius. Electronista