NYPost: iHM Creditor Would Rather See Bankruptcy Than Take Company's Current Offer. Following up on yesterday's story about
iHeartMedia's
SEC filing indicating that talks between it and a senior
lender about restructuring are far apart, the
New York Post is reporting that lender says it would rather see iHeartMedia go into bankruptcy than accept the company's current offer. That lender believes it could get 90 cents on the dollar in bankruptcy, and that would be better than the interest rate cut and year's extension on the term that iHM is offering. However, that lender also told the paper he'd prefer a reasonable offer by iHM to seeing the company go into bankruptcy. Read the
Post story
here.
FCC Commissioner Pai Piles on Criticism of Wheeler's Ownership Rules. In a statement commenting on
FCC Chairman
Tom Wheeler's decision not to change the Commission's ownership regulations – including eliminating the cross-ownership ban preventing radio and newspapers from being owed by the same companies in the same markets – FCC Commissioner
Ajit Pai says, "The FCC's rules should reflect the media marketplace of
today. Unfortunately, Chairman Wheeler's media ownership proposal reflects the world that existed in the 1970s. Last month, the FCC had no problem approving not one, but two multi-billion dollar cable mergers. Last year, it signed off on
AT&T's acquisition of
DirecTV. Yet, it now gets the vapors at the prospect of a newspaper in Scranton, Pennsylvania owning a single radio station. Whatever the motivation for the Chairman's proposal, it has nothing to do with the evidence in the record, principled decision-making, or the law. Indeed, given current trends, it is likely that the Commission's newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership restrictions will outlive the print newspaper industry itself." Ouch! Broadcasters for years have lamented the Commission's unwillingness to rescind this restriction. And now, at a time when there has never been more access to different media sources, the refusal to budge seems incomprehensible to many.
Greater Media Drops Sports Talk on WMGC, Detroit; Speculation Begins on New Music Format. Yesterday's move by
Greater Media Detroit to end the sports talk format on WMGC, Detroit has industry watchers speculating about what will be the next move for the signal. For now, the "Detroit Oldies" format also
heard on WCSX-HD2 is airing on the 105.1 FM frequency. It was on August 12 of 2013 that Greater Media decided to make a run at
CBS RADIO's highly rated sports talker WXYT-FM, flipping from adult contemporary brand "Today's 105.1," but after three years and little ratings traction, the company is
ending the expensive venture. Greater Media Detroit VP/market manager
Steve Chessare says, "The change comes after much careful consideration of the direction of the station's format and overall ratings over the past three years. We would like to thank our dedicated listeners and the entire 'Detroit Sports 105.1' staff for their many contributions to the station in the Motor City. They are true professionals and we are very grateful to them." The last three
Nielsen Audio PPM survey numbers (Persons 6+) comparing WMGC to competitor WXYT-FM were indicative of the gap between the two stations: March – WMGC 0.8, WXYT-FM 5.2; April – WMGC 0.9, WXYT-FM 6.5; May – WMGC 0.8, WXYT-FM 7.3.
