UPDATE: Clear Channel Confirms Close Of TV Group Sale

March 14, 2008: 06:01 PM EST

(Adds public confirmation of close of TV-station deal and confirms
Clear Channel buyout still expected by end of the month.)
By Shira Ovide
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- A revised sale of Clear Channel Communications
Inc.'s ( CCU) television stations to Providence Equity Partners has
closed, the company confirmed Friday, ending months of contention over
the deal.
The agreement cuts the deal price to about $1.1 billion, subject to
certain closing items, the company said late Friday. The original deal
reached last April was for more than $1.2 billion.

The separate $19.5 billion sale of Clear Channel to a private-equity
group remains on track to close by the end of the first quarter, Clear
Channel Chief Executive Mark Mays said in a memo to employees. Many
investors expect the buyout, led by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain
Capital, to close as early as next week.

On Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:32:04 -0500, Boston Blackie wrote:

I don't think it'll help.

I know mine is the minority opinion but I don't think Clear Channel was
the problem with radio. Radio was in trouble long before consolidation
came along, consolidation just provided us with a well-known lightning rod
to direct our complaints to. In fact, automated programming,
overresearched music, and one-sided talk shows came along well before
consolidation. From a technical standpoint I might suggest consolidation
has been a good thing - some of the horrible technical foulups we used to
hear on the dial simply do not happen at large group stations.

(on the other hand, it is the large groups that are responsible for HD
Radio, IMHO the biggest screwup in radio technology since the invention of
the daytime-only station...)

Whoever takes over these stations is going to have to raise an awful lot
of capital simply to complete the acquisition. They're not going to have
enough left over to hire a bunch of staffers and run all their stations
live 24/7. (or even 8/5...)

"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
news:pan.2008.03.15.19.28.52.963597@invalid.nospam...

On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:14:11 -0500, Olin wrote:

There will always be technical glitches, but we don't see the big guys
doing things like the station in Minnesota that broadcast on the wrong
frequency (107.7 instead of 107.1) for several *years*.

You can still hear screwed up AM stations on any given night - with a
shortwave radio you can usually hear at least two or three coming in on
multiples of their correct frequency - but the culprits are only rarely
big-group stations.

"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
news:pan.2008.03.16.04.16.29.891141@invalid.nospam...

On Mar 15, 2:28�pm, Doug Smith W9WI wrote: