Mitt Romney's favorite Radio Station Owner is in Trouble
This is probably beating a dead horse, (as who remembers Mitt Romney now?), but I just learned that Romney's corporate buyout firm Bain Capital owns the US's largest radio station chain, Clear Channel, which has been the subject of my ire for years.
Clear Channel owns and distributes on its stations shows by right-wing hotheads like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, and distributes Fox News in radio form. They're by far the largest of owner of radio stations in the USA and also are tops in Billboards. I've written a lot about their past antics here:
http://greedwatch.blogspot.com/search/label/Clear%20Channel
They have in recent years added liberal talk radio shows on some of their lower-rated outlets, so their reputation for being all right wingers has changed in recent years as they've realized that liberal talk sells ads, too.
As this column from my local paper says: "Bain Capitol, the majority
owner following a 2008 buyout, must be mighty nervous right now.
According to industry estimates and filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, Clear Channel has more than $16 billion of debt,
declining revenues, declining cash flow, and a huge debt payment due
relatively soon - with virtually no way to pay it.
This could be the beginning of the end for a company that, in my opinion, never deserved to exist."
from: http://www.dailynews.com/entertainment/ci_22187319/radio-clear-channel-layoffs-hit-kost-kbig-kysr
Clear Channel is a prime beneficiary (and now a victim) of the US Congress's 1996 Telecommunications deregulation act, which allowed corporate monopolies to gobble up 8 or more radio stations in a market area, instead of the previous limit of 2. The law similarly allows ownership of 2 or more TV stations in a market when the previous limit was 1.
The problem for Clear Channel is they over-borrowed to bulk up on stations, computerized the formats and fired DJs and then faced the wrath of consumers who switched to ad-free ipods and other portable music players. That's when Romney's Bain Capital firm swooped in and bought the place at likely a bargain price. The firm has not recovered, though, and it lost over $400 million in 2012.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/20/1188686/-Clear-Channel-Loses-424-Million-in-2012-StopRush-Rolls-On#
Not that Mitt is hurting due to this.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Cable Customers Sue over Mandatory Sports Channel fees
Cable Competitors No Help in Avoiding Mega Sports Channel Fees
for full story:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_23508568/tom-hoffarth-courting-change-cable?
6/21/2013--It's become the $11 billion question is: How can Time Warner Cable get away with starting up its own Lakers-centric channel, then help fund the Dodgers with the launch of their own channel, with the end game eventually force Southern California TV viewers to foot the bill for the bulk of it without the option of opting out?
...The four plaintiffs -- from L.A., Long Beach, Orange County and Pasadena -- are all considered "non-sport fans" tired of footing the extra payments in their monthly bills for sports-centric channels, (their lawyer) Blecher insisted. They can't simply drop TWC and take a different option like DirecTV, Verizon Fios or AT&T U-verse because they also have hiked fees in response to agreeing to carry the TWC sports channels...
(Editor's note: No question, cable tv is a racket. This lawsuit is a great first step, and we need our government to force the TV delivery monopolies to offer "a la carte" cable. But in the meantime, there is an alternative: get internet-only, and pay for Netflix ($8 a month to get movies), watch TV with an antenna, go to comedycentral.com to watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report for free, etc. Or do without a tv totally--you'll live......Rex
for full story:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_23508568/tom-hoffarth-courting-change-cable?
6/21/2013--It's become the $11 billion question is: How can Time Warner Cable get away with starting up its own Lakers-centric channel, then help fund the Dodgers with the launch of their own channel, with the end game eventually force Southern California TV viewers to foot the bill for the bulk of it without the option of opting out?
...The four plaintiffs -- from L.A., Long Beach, Orange County and Pasadena -- are all considered "non-sport fans" tired of footing the extra payments in their monthly bills for sports-centric channels, (their lawyer) Blecher insisted. They can't simply drop TWC and take a different option like DirecTV, Verizon Fios or AT&T U-verse because they also have hiked fees in response to agreeing to carry the TWC sports channels...
(Editor's note: No question, cable tv is a racket. This lawsuit is a great first step, and we need our government to force the TV delivery monopolies to offer "a la carte" cable. But in the meantime, there is an alternative: get internet-only, and pay for Netflix ($8 a month to get movies), watch TV with an antenna, go to comedycentral.com to watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report for free, etc. Or do without a tv totally--you'll live......Rex
Saturday, June 01, 2013
Hi, friends,
For those that wonder why no posts lately....I enrolled in law school in 2009 and will be finished at the end of 2013. I am studying corporate monopoly law right now and hope to post some good stuff soon.
Anyway, here's a website I stumbled across that has a lot to combat corporate propaganda:
http://crywolfproject.org/
...Rex, the editor
For those that wonder why no posts lately....I enrolled in law school in 2009 and will be finished at the end of 2013. I am studying corporate monopoly law right now and hope to post some good stuff soon.
Anyway, here's a website I stumbled across that has a lot to combat corporate propaganda:
http://crywolfproject.org/
...Rex, the editor
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