Clear Channel

Posted on December 7, 2012 by hjparker

by [Holly Parker]

http://www.clearchannel.com/

Address: 200 East Basse Road, San Antonio, TX 78209

Telephone: (210) 822-2828

Overview

Clear Channel Communications is a private communications company, founded in 1972 and based out of San Antonio, Texas. It is privately owned by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. Clear Channel is most well known for its radio station ownership but the company also owns outdoor advertising around the country. The two main divisions of the company are Clear Channel Media & Entertainment and Clear Channel Outdoor. [1]

Clear Channel Media & Entertainment

Clear Channel Media & Entertainment (CCME) is the radio division of Clear Channel and serves 150 cities through 850 radio stations. Its stations are broadcast on a wide variety of platforms including AM/FM stations, satellite radio, HD radio, and iHeartRadio which streams music on mobile phones and the Internet. CCME has divisons including “radio broadcasting, online and mobile services and products, syndication, music research services and independent media representation.” [2]

Clear Channel Media Statistics [2]

With 239 million monthly listeners in the U.S., Clear Channel Media and Entertainment has the largest reach of any radio or television outlet in America.
100 million listening hours a month
Over 45 million monthly digital uniques
15 million+ fan reach through station and radio personality Facebook pages

Robert Pittman, CEO of Clear Channel

Key Executives [3]

Robert Pittman, Chief Executive Officer: Mr. Pittman is a giant in the world of media communications. He is the founder of MTV and became CEO of Clear Channel Communications in October 2011. He has helped increase the company’s digital presence and stated that he wants to make Clear Channel’s stations free on as many platforms as possible. [4]
Tom Casey, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President
Robert H. Walls, Jr., Executive Vice President and General Counsel
John Hogan, Chairman and CEO, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment

Financials [5]

In the third quarter of 2012, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment (CCME) was up 1%, or $7 million, in revenues compared to the third quarter of 2011. This increase was primarily the result of a 3% increase in radio revenues, due to an increase in national advertising, digital radio services, and the iHeart Radio Music Festival in September.
At the end of the third quarter, CCME had a revenue of $798.8 million, and Clear Channel Communications increased its overall revenue by 2% up to $1.59 billion.
However, the company may have some financial troubles in the coming years. It needs to refinance more than $10 billion in debt, due in 2016. Its debt by this year will likely outnumber its asset value. This debt has caused some to speculate that the company may have to merge or sell off some of its assets. [6]

iHeartRadio

iHeartRadio is a company owned by Clear Channel consisting of a mobile application and an Internet radio website. Its website states that iHeartRadio is a “free, all-in-one digital radio service that lets you find more than 1,500 Live Stations or create commercial-free, all-music Custom Stations featuring songs from the artist you select and similar music” [7]. The company has proved quite successful for Clear Channel and has helped keep radio in the 21st century. It allows users to stream from a wide variety of radio stations around the country. The company has evolved to become more versatile than just streaming radio stations over the Internet; it now has customizable stations similar to Pandora.

In November, iHeartRadio announced that they had reached 20 million users and surpassed 135 million app downloads [8].

iHeartRadio’s website homepage

iHeartRadio Music Festival 2012

The 2nd annual iHeartRadio Music Festival was held this year on September 21 and 22 in Las Vegas, and featured popular musical acts such as Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift, No Doubt, and Aerosmith. The festival was also broadcast on The CW on October 1. The first iHeartRadio Music Festival took place last year and kicked off the official launch of iHeartRadio. Of the festival, CEO Robert Pittman said: “The iHeartRadio Music Festival is an indication of Clear Channel’s ongoing commitment to music and artist development — maximizing artists’ exposure to fans and audiences nationwide.” [1]

Katz Media Group

Katz Media Group is a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications and a leading media representation company in the United States. Katz’s website explains: “With more than 4,000 radio stations and 500 television stations retaining our services, we are the only media representation company to serve a variety of over-the-air and digital platforms.” [9] Katz recently announced that it set a digital sales record for its Digital Display Network and Online Audio Network, reaching more than 100 million and 66.5 million unique monthly users respectively. [10]

Other Clear Channel Media & Entertainment News

September 27, 2012: Clear Channel made an agreement with Glassnote Entertainment Group, that will “align the companies’ business interests, accelerate growth and innovation in digital radio and enable Glassnote and its artists to share in all Clear Channel radio revenue streams.” [11] The agreement comes in hopes of accelerating the digital music industry. Glassnote, an independent record and publishing company, represents such artists as Mumford & Sons, Childish Gambino, Phoenix, and The Temper Trap. These artists and others represented by the music company will benefit from this deal with Clear Channel.

October 12, 2012: The Australian Radio Network (ARN) announced that they would launch iHeartRadio in Australia and New Zealand, providing a lucrative opportunity for Clear Channel Media & Entertainment to expand their company internationally. The service will launch in Australia and New Zealand in 2013 and will be marketed through Clear Channel International’s media assets. [12]

November 8, 2012: Clear Channel Media & Entertainment announced, in partnership with The Madison Square Garden Company and The Weinstein Company, plans for a concert called 12-12-12, A Concert For Sandy Relief. The one night only concert will raise money for people in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) affected by Hurricane Sandy and will take place on December 12, 2012 in Madison Square Garden. All money raised will be administered to the Robin Hood Relief Fund. John Sykes, President of Clear Channel Entertainment Enterprises, will help produce the event. The lineup for the concert includes huge name musical acts such as Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Bon Jovi, The Who, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Alicia Keys, and Kanye West. [13]

November 20, 2012: Clear Channel will sponsor a series of annual holiday concerts across the country called Jingle Ball 2012. Each year Clear Channel stations across the country host Jingle Ball concerts in local cities, featuring performances by top recording artists and emerging new talent. Washington, DC’s Hot 99.5 and Atlanta’s Power 96.1 are hosting Jingle Ball for the first time this year. Concerts will also take place in Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Miami, Tampa, San Francisco, and Seattle. [14]

December 3, 2012: Triton released its Online Audio Rankings for October 2012, declaring Clear Channel #2 in ratings behind Pandora. The report lists Clear Channel as having 281,782 Average Active Sessions (AAS). AAS is defined as Total Hours Listening (total number of hours the station/publisher has streamed) divided by hours in the reported time period. Clear Channel is also listed as having 0.61 average hours listening. Above Clear Channel, Pandora has 1,561,757 Average Active Sessions and 0.64 average hours listening. [15]

December 6, 2012: Clear Channel made a number of layoffs in large and mid-sized markets. It is unclear how many layoffs were made, but the company said in a statement that “this creates some new jobs, and unfortunately eliminates others.” The company is continuing to evolve its organizational structure. [16]

References:

1. http://www.clearchannel.com/

2. http://www.clearchannel.com/MediaAndEntertainment/

3. http://www.clearchannel.com/Corporate/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=1168&p=hidden

4. http://www.tritondigital.com/news-items/pittman-envisions-new-life-for-radio

5. http://www.ccmediaholdings.com/documents/Quarterly/CC-Media-Holdings-Q3-2012-Earnings-Release.pdf

6. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/blog/2012/12/clear-channel-facing-cloudy-financial.html

7. http://www.iheart.com/about/

8. http://www.slashgear.com/iheartradio-surpasses-20-million-users-sees-over-135-million-downloads-20257809/

9. http://www.katz-media.com/default.aspx

10. http://www.katz-media.com/newsroom/Lists/Newsroom/DispForm.aspx?ID=127&ContentTypeId=0x0104001CC469D696FE464A8A8D4A5554FA03A2

11. http://www.clearchannel.com/MediaAndEntertainment/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=3148

12. http://www.clearchannel.com/MediaAndEntertainment/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=3138

13. http://www.clearchannel.com/MediaAndEntertainment/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=3152

14. http://www.clearchannel.com/MediaAndEntertainment/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=3157

15. http://www.tritondigital.com/media/default/rankers/oct-ranker-2012.pdf

16. http://www.insideradio.com/Article.asp?id=2588722&spid=32061#.UMETv5PjlKo

17. Logo image: http://typophile.com/files/Clear-Channel-logo%20edit_5618.jpg

18. Pittman image: http://rbr.com/wp-content/uploads/Bob_Pittman1.jpg

19. iHeartRadio image: http://www.iheart.com/

20. 12-12-12 image: http://www.121212concert.org/

Clear Channel Communications

Posted on September 18, 2012 by grsanson

by [Gabriel Sansone]

Clear Channel Communications Logo [1]

Who is Clear Channel?

Clear Channel Communications is a global entertainment and media company from San Antonio, Texas, that specializes in digital and radio platforms, as well as outdoor advertising. Clear Channel’s radio division, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, reaches 239 million monthly listeners in the United States, giving it the largest reach of any television or radio outlet in the country.[2] Clear Channel Media and Entertainment has holdings in 150 cities and owns 850 radio stations,[3] which can be heard via AM/FM transmission, Sirius/XM satellite radio, HD digital radio, the Internet, mobile applications on smartphones and iPads, and navigation systems from Garmin and TomTom. Other properties of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment include Premiere Radio Networks, the number one radio network in the country with 90 radio programs in syndication, and Katz Media Group, the leading media representation company in the U.S., with over 500 television and 4,000 radio stations.[2] Clear Channel Media and Entertainment also owns iHeartRadio, a free digital radio service that allows users to listen to more than 1,500 Live Stations.[2] Clear Channel Media and Entertainment is run by Chairman and CEO John Hogan, who graduated from Lake Forest College in 1979.[4]

Clear Channel’s History

Clear Channel Communications was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs as the San Antonio Broadcasting Company, and by 1984 Clear Channel had six AM and six FM stations in seven different markets. Clear Channel first entered the television business in 1988, and by 1995 was in control of 43 radio stations and 16 television stations in 32 different markets. With the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the company acquired 49 new radio stations that covered 20 markets. In 1997, Clear Channel acquired Eller Media Company, helping it to become a leader in outdoor advertising. By 1999, Clear Channel was ranked by The Wall Street Journal as the fifth best-performing stock of the 1990s, and today, under the leadership of CEO Bob Pittman, Clear Channel continues to be one of the leaders in both the entertainment and advertising industries.[5]

What’s Clear Channel Doing Today?

September

On September 27^th, Clear Channel announced that it had struck a deal with Glassnote Entertainment Group to pay sound recording performance royalties to artists signed to the Glassnote record label, whether their songs are played via digital media or over the air.[6] The revolutionary deal, similar to one Clear Channel

Glassnote Entertainment Group Logo [8]

forged with the Big Machine Label Group in June, allows the label to receive a (undisclosed) percentage of Clear Channel’s digital and terrestrial advertising revenue, as opposed to just receiving revenue on a per-play basis.[7] Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman released a statement to the press, saying that the deal not only allows for Glassnote Entertainment Group artists to participate in Clear Channel’s radio revenues, but “it also creates a vibrant new digital radio business model that we believe will provide more money for the artists and the labels and more digital choices for the consumer.”[7] Popular Glassnote artists that will benefit from this deal include Mumford and Sons, Childish Gambino, and Phoenix.

October

On October 25^th, Clear Channel announced that the company successfully completed a private debt exchange of $1,999, 815,000 for new notes that are worth the same principal amount but due in 2019.[9] As Clear Channel is currently in almost $20 billion in debt,[10] this debt exchange is a step in the right direction for providing the company with “greater flexibility to manage our debt maturities in the future,” says company Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Tom Casey.[9] The offering was reportedly highly oversubscribed, which shows that debtholders are prepared to allow Clear Channel more years to repay some of its debt.[11]

Throughout the week of October 27^th, Clear Channel dismissed dozens of local radio D.J.’s across the country in an effort to revamp their 600 U.S. regional stations. In a company statement, spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg said the firings came about because Clear Channel rethought their regional market strategy and “reinvented our operations in those markets in a way that will let us…succeed using all of Clear Channel’s resources, scale and talent.” However, the layoffs proved controversial, as many media reform groups believe that Clear Channel is sacrificing radio’s integrity by replacing locally produced programs with less costly shows that are syndicated nationally.[10]

On October 29^th, Clear Channel announced that it had stuck a deal with another record label, Naxos. Naxos is America’s largest digital distributor of independent

Naxos Logo [14]

classical music, with over 30,000 albums from various classical labels, including 6,500 on its own labels.[12] The deal is different from Clear Channel’s previous deals with Big Machine and Glassnote, as it only permits Clear Channel to pay Naxos for digital, not terrestrial, radio play.[13] The agreement is representative of Clear Channel’s current desire to continue to help radio permeate the digital world, and as part of the deal Naxos will assist with iHeartRadio’s digital classical station, “Classica.”[12]

November

On November 2^nd, Clear Channel released their quarterly earnings report for the third quarter of 2012, which ended on September 30^th of 2012. Clear Channel Media and Entertainment revenues experienced a 1%, $7 million dollar increase in comparison to the third quarter of 2011. This increase is due in large part to a 3% growth in radio revenues, which occurred as a result of increased national advertising, the growing popularity of digital radio service iHeartRadio, and the iHeartRadio Music Festival.[15]

On November 20^th, Clear Channel announced that its popular digital radio service, iHeartRadio, has been downloaded more than 135 million times and has over 20

iHeartRadio Logo [17]

million registered users. These numbers are particularly impressive, considering that iHeartRadio was launched a mere 13 months ago. In a company statement, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Chairman/CEO John Hogan said “iHeartRadio has reinvented the digital radio experience and is a key element of how Clear Channel continues to reshape the media and entertainment industry.”[16]

On November 29^th, it was announced that innovative social commerce web site Lockerz made an agreement with iHeartRadio. Lockerz is a website on which users can discover the latest fashion trends and top brands, receive points (called PTZ) for sharing images and videos from the web, and use their PTZ for big discounts on fashion and electronic products.[18] Now, iHeartRadio’s 1,500 live and user-created custom stations are available on Lockerz, and members can earn PTZ for sharing and adding their favorite music and radio stations. Clear Channel hopes the agreement will help iHeartRadio to continue to grow in popularity. “Lockerz has built an incredibly passionate and social user base and is a great distribution platform for us,” said Brian Lakamp, President of Digital for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment.[19]

What’s Next for Clear Channel?

Clear Channel is helping produce the 12-12-12 concert, a show that will take place in New York City on December 12, 2012, with all proceeds from ticket purchases going to the Robin Hood

Poster for the 12-12-12 concert, featuring some of the notable artists who will be playing at the show [20]

Relief Fund to assist the victims of Hurricane Sandy. The concert has already secured distribution to over one billion people via various mediums to maximize awareness and relief efforts, and in a joint statement, event producers James Dolan (Chairman of The Madison Square Garden Company), John Sykes (President of Clear Channel Entertainment Enterprises) and Harvey Weinstein (Co-Founder and Chairman of The Weinstein Company) said the concert and its media distributors “will enable us to create a tremendous and unprecedented fundraising effort on a global scale to benefit the victims of this devastating storm.”[21]

Tickets to the show are currently available on Ticketmaster

Because of its current debt situation, Clear Channel could be experiencing some financial turmoil in the future. According to a Moody’s report released during the week of December 5^th, while Clear Channel should be able to manage the amount of debt they have due through 2015, they could very well be unprepared to deal with the $10 billion of debt that will be due in 2016. Moody’s senior analyst Scott Van den Bosch writes that “the company’s ability to avoid restructuring will be challenging as debt levels will exceed our expected asset value. The possibility of a restructuring or a distressed exchange remains high…in our downside scenario the company is likely to face a restructuring of its balance sheet in excess of $16 billion in debt.” It is possible that Clear Channel will be able to avoid the restructuring, but it is going to “depend on the receptivity of the financial markets and moderate underlying interest rates.” So, in the future, Clear Channel will be very sensitive to changes in the economy.[22]

Contact Clear Channel

Wish to contact Clear Channel Communications?

Web: http://www.clearchannel.com

Mail: 200 E. Basse Rd. San Antonio, TX, 78209.

Phone: (210) – 822 – 2828

Sources

1.http://www.mxdwn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/clear_channel-logo.gif

2.http://www.clearchannel.com/MediaAndEntertainment/

3.http://www.cjr.org/resources/?c=clearchannel

4.http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=3155827&ticker=CCMO

5.http://www.clearchannel.com/Corporate/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=1166&p=hidden

6.http://www.radioinfo.com/tag/glassnote-entertainment-group/