Friday, August 19, 2016

Cross Platform Media Files For Bankruptcy

Cross Platform Media, a conservative-leaning Raleigh company that did business under several names in its three-year history – from USA Radio Networks to Christian Press to Christian News Service – has shuttered and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to Triangle Business Journal.

CEO Sam Hassell said Thursday that capital “seemed to dry up in the broadcasting industry.”
“We needed investors to be able to continue and it never materialized,” he said, adding that he had no additional comment. “I’m trying to move forward.”

In 2014, Hassell told Triangle Business Journal his firm, which had about 50 employees at the time, was a “content development distribution company” operating in the national space and planning to consolidate its operations across the country into a Raleigh headquarters. He claimed his company syndicated 20 conservative-leaning talk radio shows, including "Dani Johnson Show," "Bill Martinez Live" and others.

Martinez said in an email he hadn't been affiliated with Cross since late 2015, and a spokeswoman with Johnson said that show, too, had moved on to a different syndicator.

In a bankruptcy petition filed Wednesday, the firm listed total liabilities of nearly $1.5 million and assets of just $1,200. Debts include several business loans, including one for $600,000 claimed by another Hassell company, Marketel Media, as well as $200,000 to Hargett Street LLC, listed as “landlord,” and more than $92,000, listed as “Associated Press Debt." Employees, too, were listed as being owed thousands, with one owed $40,000, according to the filing.

The company claims to have made $2.5 million in gross revenue in 2015 and $300,000 in 2014, and made moves in the past year to improve its financial situation, such as selling equipment and receivables associated with USA Radio Network to Arizona-based Anthem Broadcasting. The sale was valued at $151,165.

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