(iHeart) The Largest U.S. Radio Operator Is Saddled With $20 Billion Debt

[BadGimp]

Source: BloombergBusiness

IHeartMedia Inc., the radio broadcaster struggling under $20.6 billion of debt, is considering a potential bond or equity offering to pay off its most-pressing obligations and buy time to improve earnings, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The company would sell securities in one of its units to retire $1.4 billion of bonds the parent is responsible for paying, said the person, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. IHeart, which is discussing the plans with its private equity owners, would offer existing debtholders the option to exchange into new obligations from a subsidiary called Broader Media LLC, the person said. Creditors would receive higher-ranked claims on some of IHeart’s assets than they have now.


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-03/iheart-said-to-weigh-bond-exchange-before-wall-of-debt-comes-due?utm_content=buffer8191d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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Buy up all the major markets, tank the left wing shows and crash the entire thing is a swamp of debt.

Now that's a plan..

[jaysunb]

1. Rec'd for your comment. :) n/t

[Ford_Prefect]

2. Radio Bubble about to burst?

[BadGimp]

10. Me thinks it's not a bubble but a gutting

Deliberate and focused on media control for political and then economic objectives. But the I'm a conspiracy lover.

[ErisDiscordia]

3. It's Bain Capital

and Texas...and Clear Channel, and the rw talk machine...

The business was bought by Bain and Thomas H. Lee in July 2008 in one of the last mega leveraged buyouts before the credit crisis. The firms paid $24 billion for the radio and billboard company that spawned IHeart, formerly known as Clear Channel Communications Inc. and has been battling ever since under the debt taken on for that deal...

from wiki:

Programs that appear on many iHeartMedia talk stations include the Glenn Beck Program (Beck having gotten his talk show start at iHeartMedia (then Clear Channel) owned WFLA (AM) in Tampa), The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Sean Hannity Show, America Now with Meghan McCain and Coast to Coast AMwith George Noory, all of which are affiliated with Premiere Radio Networks in some fashion. The Mark Levin Show and The Dave Ramsey Show are non-Premiere shows who air on many (if not most) iHeartMedia stations, as did The Savage Nation prior to its ending in September 2012. Limbaugh is almost universally carried on iHeartMedia stations in markets where the company has a news talk station, including recently New York City: WOR was acquired in 2013 by Clear Channel and began carrying Limbaugh's program in 2014 following a long relationship with now-Cumulus Media-owned WABC. In markets where iHeartMedia-owned news talk stations have not been profitable (such as Boston and Atlanta), iHeartMedia has chosen to sell shows such as Limbaugh and Coast to Coast AM to their rivals and change the stations to other formats.

Breaking this octopus up would do a lot for the industry and the listening audience....

[rurallib]

4. I thought that was true

RW owning radio has been their base plan for a long time. And they have been bleeding $$$ for a while. Wonder how long it can continue?

[ErisDiscordia]

5. There's another crash coming up this year, the experts say

ought to wipe them out.

You could buy yourself a radio station pretty cheaply, if it does.

[rurallib]

6. I have some friends that may be interested

[cascadiance]

7. Yep, IHeartRadio still as bad as it was when it was known as Clear Channel...

As I'm sure Academi when it was once known as Blackwater...

As I'm sure Premiere Election Systems when it was once known as Diebold...

As I'm sure what is now known as the Third Way when those running it once were head of a group known as the DLC too...

Funny how that works where sometimes they need to do "reverse advertising" to hide themselves instead of trying to promote themselves!

[FrodosPet]

11. Lessons in repackaging and rebranding

[Kelvin Mace]

8. Let's see, I'm $20 billion in debt,what should I do?

I know!

Borrow more money!!!!

[PatrynXX]

9. well since Clear Channel is boycotted by me

and their moronic rename good!! now how do I remove that name off my Vizio Remote. They shoulda stuck Vudu on it instead

[toothless dragon]

12. Don't worry

This is America where the richest people and the richest corporations bankrupt their most indebted subsidiaries and pass the losses on to the public through that Socialism know as Bankruptcy.... ask the Donald he knows this trick well... it has made many a rich person richer... Just imagine running up billions in debt, living high off the hog, putting the money in your personal bank account and then giving the debt to the public.... The rich love Socialism... the thing is they want to keep it for themselves... sorry suckers...

[Todays_Illusion]

13. And Clear Channel being held by Bain Capital because when the conservatives bought all the radio

stations up after the de-regulation and turned them into all conservative talk and commentary everyone they lost listeners, now they want to continue to keep them out of liberal ownership. Never mind that that conservative only idea is not economically viable.

[OnyxCollie]

14. LOL! Well, that explains a lot.

Bain Capital, the private equity management group founded by Mitt Romney, owns IHeartRadio (formerly Clear Channel Communications), the company that went hog wild after Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Deregulation Act and bought up all the radio stations across the US, leading to the vast right-wing media monopoly we have today.

Hillary wants to help Mitt out with his debt, but she's feeling the Bern.

Clinton postpones another financial-services fundraiser
Under fire from Sanders, she delays events hosted by leaders of BlackRock, Bain Capital affiliate.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/hillary-clinton-postpones-fundraiser-financial-services-218708#ixzz3zAA1rv16

NEW YORK -- Hillary Clinton has postponed another fundraiser with financial services executives amid heavy criticism from rival Bernie Sanders that she is too close to Wall Street.

Clinton will no longer attend an event in Boston scheduled for Friday that was to be hosted by Jonathan Lavine, managing director of Bain Capital affiliate Sankaty Advisors, sources close to the matter said.

The event has not been canceled but will now be held sometime after the New Hampshire primary, which takes place Feb. 9. It is the second such postponement in the last two weeks. The Clinton campaign last week said a New York City event that was set for Thursday with executives from investment management firm BlackRock would now be held Feb. 16th.

The postponements come after Vermont senator Sanders ripped Clinton last week for leaving Iowa to attend a fundraiser in Philadelphia with financial services executives that featured a live performance with Bon Jovi.

[corkhead]

17. ..."leading to the vast right-wing media monopoly we have today"

that is only listened to by a bunch of pantload patriots

[OnyxCollie]

18. The rightward trajectory of the overton window

initiated by mainstream media has affected general society, not just the rabid mouth breathers.

[olddots]

15. Bigger moats around the castles in the gated communities

The Clintons were the new Reagans .

[restorefreedom]

16. much of radio these days is online

radio stations have their own apps, and many just stream online

i expect a redoubling of attacks on net neutrality very soon