Liberty Looking At A Bigger Bite Of iHeart?

• In a deal that could seriously alter the audio landscape, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that John Malone‘s Liberty Media Corp. is seeking Justice Department permission to acquire a larger piece of iHeartMedia Inc. — a move that would put the nation’s largest terrestrial radio broadcaster under the same corporate umbrella as Live Nation, SiriusXM and Pandora.

Liberty currently owns a 4.8% stake in iHeartMedia through Liberty SiriusXM Group; it also owns 33% of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., making it the concert giant’s largest shareholder, and 71% of Sirius XM Holdings Inc. As the Journal reports, “the deal now under consideration could give it control or outright ownership of iHeartMedia, according to people familiar with the matter.”

The government is considering the request, the people said, with one of them cautioning that Liberty hasn’t decided what kind of transaction, if any, it would proceed with should it receive permission. The Journal story theorizes that a deal for iHeartMedia “would increase its ability to collaborate among those businesses, potentially creating a bulwark against the rising influence of music-streaming companies.”

Last year, Liberty orchestrated Sirius’s purchase of Pandora Media, Inc. for $3 billion — another move intended to compete more effectively against Spotify and other on-demand music-streaming services. As the Journalstates, “If Liberty were to gain control of iHeart, it would represent a major consolidation of the avenues by which music and other audio content is distributed, promoted and monetized.”