Isn't that what they always say? We all know what the reality would be...
Yes we do.
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Sudden high profile exits at Cumulus
- Thread starter MarkW
- Start date
Isn't that what they always say? We all know what the reality would be...
Yes we do.
If that were to happen, Soros' interest in the new Latino Media Network might have even more overlaps, requiring further divestitures.
At the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, that's what has caused multiple bankruptcies in the radio industry over the last 10 years.
Problem is, getting smaller isn't the path to prosperity in this business either. Advertising is a tough business. It's not just the increased level of competition that's causing radio's revenue issues; it's also that fewer advertisers exist across the board.
Only if Soros is the buyer. As it looks now, Soros would be the seller and Manoj Bhargava would be the buyer.
But if this "shotgun marriage" was a thing, one wonders why Bhargava's company wasn't more active in the Audacy bankruptcy proceeding.
Since Cumulus is blocking Bhargava and his group from buying them, that will only happen if they negotiate to purchase the entire company at a price that the board agrees to. Which goes completely against what his company has been doing in investing in distressed companies and propping them up with investments in exchange for equity until he gets controlling stake and forces mergers.
In a way Soros' purchase of the debt blocked them from doing more of that.
I know hindsight is 20/20, but the Field's and Entercom should have let another company do the CBS deal, and kept doing what they do best, and now sweep in and pick up the CBS stations for what amounts to pennies on the dollar. They saw what happened to the buyers of the ABC and NBC stations, but they thought "this time is different." It usually never is.
I'm just loving the conspiracy theories "Soros is going to make people not vote for Trump!"
Here's one of them from Glenn Beck's organization. Conservative airwaves under siege as Soros eyes Audacy | Blaze Media
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There really was no other buyer out there for CBS Radio, certainly not for the price Les Moonves wanted for it.
Not exactly true. The main plan was for CBS Radio to be spun off to it's own company
MediaTalk | Season 2 <br> Ep.1: Broadcast's Big Year
In this episode, MediaTalk Host Mike Reynolds speaks to S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan Principal Analyst Justin Nielson about his outlook for the broadcast industry in 2024.
www.spglobal.com
CBS Radio Creates EVP/Digital As Spinoff Nears - RadioInsight
As CBS Radio prepares to spin-off from CBS Corporation, the division has appointed J.D. Crowley to the newly created position of Executive Vice President of Digital. Crowley currently serves as SVP/General Manager of CBS Television Distribution. In his new role, which will report directly to CBS...
radioinsight.com
There had been active rumors from Hubbard until 2016 when Ginny Morris shut down the story.
Morris: Hubbard Not In the Market for CBS Radio.
While CBS Corp. has said the primary route being pursued for the future of its 117-station radio division is a spinoff into a separately traded company, the broadcasting giant has
Which essentially means there was no other buyer in waiting. So, CBS was willing to create one of its own. It, of course, would've still been saddled with the same roughly $2 billion in debt Entercom/Audacy ended up taking on. Hard for me to believe it would've avoided the same fate that befell Audacy. Had the spin-off company also gone bankrupt, it seems unlikely anyone would’ve been able to buy the company or many of its markets for fire sale prices.
What I mean is Entercom didn't have to buy it. There was a plan and it was pretty advanced by the time Entercom came in.
Would a stand-alone have done better? I think the spin off was more geared towards a digital plan than Entercom was.
Right now, Cumulus has a better podcasting plan than Audacy. Audacy has the streaming platform.
An Audacy-Cumulus combination in Houston would be a perfect fit. Audacy has four FMs and Cumulus’ KRBE is a stand-alone. No format changes needed either, outside of minor tweaks.
Has speculation of a Cumulus-Urban One merger died out?
I don't remember ever hearing that one, though I suppose that doesn't mean as much as it might've 15 years ago since I'm not as involved in the business as I was back then.
I did, however, hear rumors of Urban One being interested in the remaining Cox Media Group stations. Been awhile since I've heard anything along that front, though. So, I'm guessing it's not likely to happen either, at least not in the short-term.
Makes sense, though. Cox Media is quickly becoming a massive albatross for Apollo Global Management and played a pivotal role in the demise of the Tegna-Standard General buyout Apollo was financing.
Had Radio One's casino proposal in Richmond gone through, they would have bought Cox's properties in Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. From what I heard last fall's flip of 101.5 in Tampa and frequency swap of 99.5 and 106.5 Jacksonville was done with the expectation Radio One was to take over. But losing the casino vote pretty much prevented any expansion and the company has since gone in reverse with layoffs and other budget cuts especially on their R&B and Hip Hop stations.
The other markets were not involved. But those clusters outside of Atlanta have been on the block. There's belief that because the newsrooms of WSB, WSB-TV and the Journal Constitution are so intertwined they do not want to break that up. It is possible that the music stations are divested.
Cox only played a pivitol role in that Apollo would've had defacto control of both companies. Had nothing to do with owning Cox. And Apollo never wanted the radio group to begin with, but had to take it in order to close the deal for the TV group.
I understand Dayton is a similar situation. WHIO-TV and the newspaper are pretty much tied into the rest of the operation.