FCC MB OKs iHeart Deal -- With Foreign Ownership Conditions
The FCC Media Bureau conditionally approved transfer of several radio licenses to an iHeartMedia subsidiary while the company has a pending petition for declaratory ruling (PDR) on a Bahamian company buying enough iHeart stock to exceed a foreign-ownership threshold established…
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in a previous bureau ruling (see 2011050061. The order, in Monday’s FCC Daily Digest, includes conditions “designed to insulate, to the extent possible, the non-compliant foreign interests pending action on iHeart’s remedial PDR seeking specific approval of those interests,” the staff said. “The record raises no substantial and material question of fact as to whether iHeart is qualified to be a licensee of broadcast stations and whether grant of the Applications is in the public interest.” The radio group informed the FCC in February that Global Media & Entertainment Investments, which is controlled by U.K. citizens, bought shares to give it about 6.6% of the equity and 8.7% of the voting interests in iHeart. That exceeded the 5% threshold for requiring FCC approval established by a previous declaratory ruling. IHeart “did not solicit the non-compliant foreign investment and was not even aware of it until GMEI’s SEC filing,” the order said. While FCC approval of the foreign ownership is pending, GMEI can’t appoint members to or attend meetings of iHeart’s board or have any role in the company’s day-to-day operations. The MB approved the deal over objections of several listeners, who sought to prevent the stations’ formats from changing. “It is well settled policy that the Commission does not regulate programming formats,” the order said. The transfers involved are located in Fort Worth, Houston and Fisher, Minnesota, and the sellers were Mortenson Broadcasting, Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, and Sun and Snow Station Trust.