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Another Victory: Media De-Consolidation
The New York Times is reporting that the Clear Channel media empire is dividing. The company, which owns thousands of billboards, concert venues, and 1,200 radio stations, will "spin off its entertainment unit and sell a 10 percent stake in its outdoor advertising division in a public offering."
It looks like gobbling up the competition and creating an omnipresent behemouth not only creates crap radio, homogonizes culture, and tarnishes a corporate image... but it fails as a business strategy! Clear Channels stock is currently one third of their peak price in 2000.
I should mention the skeptic side of me wonders how much a difference the spin-off company will make in our everyday lives. The new company and Clear Channel Communications will surely be friendly to each other, if not by creating explicit 'strategic alliances.' However, on the optimist side, the article mentions that Viacom and Liberty Media are also planning on slimming down. It seems public opinion and pressure from media activists has actually had an influence here. The bloated media giant model isn't working.
Thanks to Chris Hoofnagle from EPIC for the tip.
Posted by Steve Lambert on 05/02/2005 | Permalink
Comments
I'd be very skeptical about the role of "public opinion and pressure from media activists." I see no reason to think this is being done for anything other than business reasons. Stock price data would seem to confirm this. I'd certainly be very slow to accuse higher ups at Clear Channel of being capable of altruistic motives.
Posted by: rossi | May 3, 2005 10:38:08 AM
