Clear Channel tells FCC it wants more radio stations

On Wednesday, August 30th, Andrew Levin and Jessica Marventano of Clear Channel met with FCC commissioners Robert M. McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate and two of their legal assistants. "At both meetings," the company's FCC filing discloses, "Clear Channel discussed the competitive position of terrestrial radio in the contemporary audio marketplace and the Company's view that local ownership limits should be raised in very large markets."

Clear Channel presently owns over 1,200 radio stations in the U.S., but it would like to own more. The law says that an entity can own no more than eight radio stations in the biggest markets in the U.S. Clear Channel proposes that the limit be lifted to 10 in regions with 60 to 74 stations, and 12 in bigger areas. This would permit Clear Channel to own 12 radio stations in a market like New York City.

The next day Clear Channel sent the FCC documents and statements in support of raising the cap from leading members of the House of Representatives, including Republican Fred Upton of Illinois, a member of the House Commerce Committee.

"If free terrestrial radio is to remain a healthy industry capable of fulfilling its public interest responsibilities while competing against an increasing number of competitors, it must be able to grow," Upton wrote to the FCC. " . . . I urge you to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to begin this process quickly."

The submission included a group letter of support coming from 23 members of Congress, among them Paul Gilmore, Gene Green, Eliot L. Engel, Ed Whitfield, Edolphus Towns, Cliff Stearns, Barbara Cubin, Mike Ross, John Shimkus, Vito Fossella, Steve Buyer George Radanovich, Mary Bono, Greg Waldon, Lee Terry, Mike Ferguson, C.L. Otter, Sue Myrick, Charles Pickering, Ralph M. Hall, Michael Burgess, and John B. Shadegg.

"Given Americans' reliance on free for both local news and community-oriented programming," the Congressmembers say, "as well as essential 'lifeline' information during emergencies, natural disasters, we urge the FCC to address this evolving market situation."

The August 31st Clear Channel submission also included a J.P. Morgan study on HD radio, iBiquity corporation's version of digital radio, suggesting that the relatively new technology will not boost revenues.

To Clear Channel's disappointment, the FCC's June 2003 broadcast ownership rules decision did not expand the number of radio stations an entity can own beyond the current limit of eight, although it did more liberally redefine regional markets. The Commission has opened a new comment cycle on media ownership rules, which has eighteen more days to go before it enters into the "reply to comments" phase of the proceeding.

More stories:

• August 22, 2006, Cart way ahead of horse on FCC media ownership events
• July 25, 2006, FCC publishes text of Notice on its broadcast ownership rules