CRTC Approves BCE's Astral TV And Radio Acquisition

6-27-2013

Today, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved an application by Astral Media Inc. to sell its pay and specialty television channels, conventional television stations, and radio stations to BCE Inc. The CRTC?s approval comes with a number of conditions that are necessary to uphold the public interest.

?Astral?s application put forward a different approach and responded to many of our concerns,? said Jean-Pierre Blais, chairman of the CRTC. ?Yet there remained a significant risk that BCE could exert its market power to limit choice and competition. To ensure the public interest is served, we are requiring BCE to invest in new Canadian programming and sell more than a dozen services, and we are putting in place a number of competitive safeguards.?

BCE will be required to invest $246.9 million in tangible benefits over the next seven years, which is $72 million more than it had proposed. This amount reflects the CRTC?s revised value of the transaction, as well as the size and exceptional nature of the transaction.

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FCC Approves WMVY Request to go Non-Profit

1-17-2013
As the station pushes forward to raise $600,000 to be able to operate, the FCC approved its request to go from commercial to noncommercial educational status. WMVY is in the process of being sold by Aritaur Comunications to WBUR. Aritaur is donating the mvyradio's assets, incuding content and equipment to the non-profit Friends of mvyradio which is administered by Public Radio Capital. So far the group has raised $480,000.

WMVY, which has been a mainstay of the Island for nearly 30 years and an internet success, is entering the final stretch in its Save mvyradio fund raising campaign, with nearly 3,000 listeners already pledging more than $480,000 towards the $600,000 goal. The effort, led by station staff and mvyradio?s many supporters, is aimed at saving the independent sound.

Program Director PJ Finn said, ?We are incredibly grateful to our listeners for digging deep and helping us save this independent, one-a-kind station. We?re grateful for the generosity of every single listener who has stepped up and pledged, but we?re not there yet. While we are confident we can make it, we do need to close that gap and time is running out.?

Friends of mvyradio would operate "mvyradio" as an online radio station, keeping all its current local programming, music and online content in place. At the same time, Friends of mvyradio would continue to seek a return to the FM dial. The $600,000 goal is what?s needed to cover the first year of operating expenses. With time running out, the staff is moving into the final phase of the pledge drive. Once the sale is cleared, the transfer is expected to happen within 10 days.

The average pledge from listeners is $140. The largest single-day collection happened on January 9, netting over $85,000, thanks to listeners and a generous, anonymous donor who matched every pledge that day, dollar-for-dollar. A second day of matching, on January 16th, netted another $60,000.

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Judge Approves Settlement With BMI

8-28-2012

Judge Louis Stanton, of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, has approved a settlement that ends two years of litigation between the Radio Music License Committee and Broadcast Music, concerning the fees payable by the U.S. commercial radio industry to publicly perform the more than 7.5 million plus musical works in the BMI repertoire through 2016. The RMLC represents the vast majority of the nation?s radio stations.

Christian said, ?This is a gratifying result for the radio industry. The new BMI license reflects the reality of our industry?s economy and puts the industry back on a sound footing insofar as its licensing relationship with BMI is concerned. We appreciate the good will which BMI has demonstrated in working with our industry to get this resolution.?

The new BMI license covers the period January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2016 and includes the following: :
? A $70.5 million industry fee credit against 2010-2011 industry payments that is immediately available to the industry (this, in addition to the industry?s retention of $40 million in fee reductions that had been voluntarily agreed to by BMI at the interim fee stage of litigation in calendar year 2010);
? A 1.7 percent of gross revenue fee structure for stations on the blanket music license format, less a standard deduction of 12 percent for revenue derived from terrestrial/analog and HD multicasting broadcasts and a 25 percent standard deduction for revenue attributable to new media uses;
? Retention of the program-period license that benefits many ?news-talk? format stations, with a base fee of 0.2958 percent of gross revenue, less the same standard deductions; and
? Expanded rights coverage to accommodate the industry?s developing new media platforms related to Internet websites, smart phones, and other wireless devices.

The impact of this settlement was reflected in BMI?s June 2012 billing statements that reflected substantial fee decreases. For many stations, the resulting credit balance will carry through to the end of 2012 before it is exhausted. New BMI license forms will be made available to the industry shortly.

The radio industry had faced a serious challenge in terms of restoring reasonable license fee levels during difficult economic times. License fees had ballooned to some 3 percent of industry revenues for both BMI and ASCAP in the post-2008 environment. The settlement approved by the court today effectively rolls back annual industry fees payable to BMI by more than $80 million for 2012 (as against where they stood at the end of the prior license in 2009) and provides for a return to a revenue-based fee structure at a level of 1.7 percent of gross revenue. In addition, the new agreement covers (at the same 1.7 percent rate) the range of new media platforms in which the radio industry is increasingly engaged.

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FCC Approves Cumulus-Citadel Merger

September 14, 2011: The FCC has granted its approval to the merger of Cumulus Media and Citadel Broadcasting, as expected. Citadel and Cumulus made the deal in March and got Department of Justice approval earlier this week. Citadel shareholder are scheduled to vote on the merger tomorrow.

In the order issued today, the FCC's Media Bureau notes that the transfer of control will put 228 current Citadel stations under the control of Cumlus Media. Per the order, a total of 14 stations must be divested, six  to comply with commission ownership rules, and another eight because the transfer of control "will terminate the licensees' abilty to maintain certain grandfathered ownership interests" in seven markets.

The applications filed by the parties for a transfer of control also included applications to assign 14 stations to a divestiture trust for future sale, and the FCC has made divestiture "prior to or simultaneous with" the completion of the merger a condition of its approval. The trust is "required to take commercially reasonable efforts to effectuate a sale of the stations without delay." The Department of Justice, which announced yesterday that it had completed its antitrust review of the merger, required the sale of three stations -- two in Harrisburg, aligning with the FCC's requirements, and an additional station in Flint, MI.

The markets where stations will be spun to meet FCC and DJO requirements are Nashville; Long Island; Dallas; Kansas City; Harrisburg; Montgomery; Fayetteville, AR; Macon and Savannah, GA; Columbus, MS; Myrtle Beach, SC; and Flint, MI.

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D.O.J. Approves Cumulus Citadel Deal

It's a weird way of doing things but who are we to ask how government operates. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court regarding the Cumulus/Citadel deal and at the same time approved it contingent upon divestitures that Cumulus was already planning. D.O.J. had red flags in Harrisburg and Flint. They want to be sure Cumulus sells two stations in Harrisburg and one station in Flint. These divestitures are to assure, under government rules, that local advertisers are not bilked on rates. They call it the benefits of competition. Wonder what the call the benefits of newspaper advertising rates. Cumulus already had the two stations in Harrisburg in a trust to satisfy the FCC. 

Sharis Pozen is an acting assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division. She sent out an e-mail yesterday that said "the divestitures required by the consent decree will enable radio advertisers to continue to receive the benefits of competition? The divestitures will reduce Cumulus?s share of advertising revenue in those regions to less than 40 percent, the Justice Department said in the statement. Cumulus now awaits FCC approval which could come any day. That's followed by the Citadel shareholder vote next week and SEC approval.

Here's more detail from the D.O.J. release:

The Department of Justice announced today that it will require Cumulus Media Inc., one of the largest operators of radio stations in the United States, to divest three radio stations in two markets in order for Cumulus to proceed with its acquisition of Citadel Broadcasting Corporation. The department said that the transaction, as originally proposed, would substantially lessen competition for radio advertising in Flint, Mich., and Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, Pa.

The department?s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to block the proposed acquisition. At the same time, the division filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the lawsuit and the department?s competitive concerns.

?The divestitures required by the consent decree will enable radio advertisers to continue to receive the benefits of competition in Harrisburg and Flint,? said Sharis A. Pozen, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice?s Antitrust Division.

"According to the complaint, Cumulus?s and Citadel?s radio stations compete head-to-head against one another for the business of local and national companies that seek to purchase radio advertising time that targets listeners in Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle and Flint. Cumulus?s acquisition of Citadel would have eliminated the competition in these markets, increasing prices and reducing levels of service in the sale of radio advertising time. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Cumulus must divest two stations in Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle and one station in Flint to buyers approved by the division. The divestitures will reduce Cumulus?s share in advertising revenues in Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle and Flint to less than 40 percent, preserving choices for advertisers and ensuring competition."

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Mexico Approves HD Radio Technology

June 17, 2011

The decision authorizing the In Band On Channel (IBOC) system became official yesterday when the COFETEL regulation was published in the Diario Oficial de la Nacion ? the Federal Register of Mexico.  The official regulation was publicized during a Presidential press conference held at Los Pinos, and included the following statement by President Felipe Calderon: ?I want to invite you to invest in your radio stations, and to take advantage of these new conditions that have just been created, to bring to our country the very latest technology that will allow you to offer much better radio to all Mexicans. We have the opportunity to position ourselves as a world leader.?  

The decision by COFETEL to accept HD Radio Technology as a digital standard for Mexico allows for broadcaster?s voluntary use of the iBiquity technology in hybrid mode (analog & digital) by both AM and FM station licensees, as well as the use of iBiquity multicasting technology.  The regulation authorizes nationwide implementation of HD Radio Broadcasting.

Robert Struble, President & CEO of the Company stated, ?we are delighted that our IBOC System has been recognized by COFETEL as the right technology to upgrade the Mexican radio industry to a digital platform.  HD Radio broadcasting provides tremendous new services to listeners, and presents unique opportunities to broadcasters, their advertisers and the consumer electronics industry.  The global importance of the Mexico economy and this development represents major progress toward a common digital radio standard in North America.?

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