Clear Channel’s operating results for the first quarter were flat, reflecting a continued weak demand for radio advertising. Outdoor advertising performed better than radio in the quarter for the second quarter in a row, with revenue gains of 12 percent. Radio declined 4 percent.
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Cablevision’s Rainbow Media, which owns AMC and IFC, will now also own the Sundance Channel.
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Cablevision is close to an agreement to buy the Sundance Channel in a cash and stock deal valued at nearly $500 million, according to people close to the situation.
TNS, the research company that has been pushing into the ratings space via digital TV set-top data, has turned down a $1.87 billion buyout offer from WPP Group.
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Microsoft, deciding not to make a direct offer to Yahoo shareholders for the company, has officially pulled its bid of $33 a share. The company had upped the bid from $31, but Yahoo had been holding out for at least $37 a share.
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XM and Sirius still want their marriage to go through, despite the fact that the FCC is almost endlessly dragging its feet on a decision about the regulatory issues involved in such a merger.
Microsoft’s board met yesterday but didn’t come to any final decisions regarding its bid for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reports (via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer).
Ziff Davis Media could be exiting from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as early as June.
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Time Warner Inc., following news that it slipped 36 percent in Q1 earnings from a year ago, announced that it will spin off the rest of its cable TV biz.
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NBCU and CBS plan to bid for the Weather Channel in the second round of bidding, two people familiar with the situation have said (via Reuters).
Cox Enterprises has just purchased Adify for $300 million.
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Public interest groups and lawmakers are gearing up to fight against a Rupert Murdoch-owned Newsday.
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The Commerce Committee is hoping to reverse changes to the ban on media cross-ownership that the FCC voted for last December.
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Satellite radio subscribership likely won’t increase much as a result of the pending merger of XM and Sirius, and the willingness of subscribers to stay with either is iffy, especially if the service came pre-installed in vehicles, according to a study by Jacobs Media, MarketingCharts writes.
CBS Outdoor is expanding its presence down south with the acquisition of International Outdoor Advertising Group, the leading out-of-home company in South America.
After announcing a better-than-expected 9 percent rise in revenues for the first quarter, Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo, said yesterday that he is still open to “any and all alternatives including a sale to Microsoft.”
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eBay has sued Craigslist, saying that eBay’s stake in the classifieds site has been unfairly diluted by more than 10 percent.
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Yesterday Yahoo reported Q1 earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, which suggests Microsoft’s $44.6 billion takeover bid does indeed undervalue the company.
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Rupert Murdoch has succeeded in nabbing an agreement in principle from Tribune Co. to purchase Newsday for about $580 million in what would be a joint venture.
The banks involved in the buyout of Clear Channel Communications have waved an olive branch, hoping to resolve the dispute about funding the deal.
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