Liberty To Take Bigger Bite Of iHeart
• The Justice Department has given the green light to a bid by Liberty Media to increase its stake in iHeartMedia — a deal that would expand the market dominance of a company that already owns controlling interests in SiriusXM and Pandora and owns a third of Live Nation.
According to Politico.com, the deal, that was approved by antitrust prosecutors on Wednesday would allow Liberty to increase its shares in iHeartMedia up to 50 percent. Liberty currently has a 5 percent stake in iHeartMedia, which owns more than 850 AM & FM radio stations and the streaming service iHeartRadio.
RAMP reached out to iHeartMedia spokesperson Wendy Goldberg, who confirmed the Justice Department’s approval of Liberty Media’s request.
Liberty, which owned by billionaire John Malone, already owns a controlling stake in SiriusXM, which bought streaming platform Pandora last year. Liberty also owns a 33 percent stake in Live Nation Entertainment, the biggest concert promotion firm and ticketing company.
Politico reports that a coalition of consumer and anti-monopoly groups, including the Open Markets Institute, Public Citizen and the Center for Digital Democracy, opposed the deal, arguing it would be “likely catastrophic” on radio markets and lead to fewer options, less diversity in programming and higher prices.
