Report: Watch For FCC Attempt To Reverse Audacy Approval

Future Republican FCC Chair Brendan Carr is out to reconsider the FCC’s approval of Audacy’s bankruptcy reorganization that gives Democratic donor George Soros controlling interest writes Jerry Del Colliano, publisher of the Inside Music Media newsletter.

The rundown

• It’s politics, says Carr, who risks making a political football of the FCC approval process that made concessions to iHeartMedia in a similar situation without objection.
• iHeart appears to be playing the Republican party as its friend with questionable donations to Texas Senator Ted Cruz under the guise of paying for his podcast.
• But it is Soros that sticks in the craw of Republicans and they want to make Audacy pay.

Quick review:  Soros Fund bought $400 million of Audacy debt at cheap prices to amass controlling interest when the debt was converted to equity. There has been no substantive proof that Soros is using Audacy for political purposes and if it did, there is no law against it.

What to look for

• 
  Carr takes over the majority Republican FCC after Trump is inaugurated and leans on a petition for reconsideration which is pending idle right now as Commission control leaves the Democrats.
• Unsubstantiated allegations that the Biden administration was playing political favorites in the Audacy approval.
• Politicization of media matters under the new administration was its publicly stated goal is to upend the way business is done and reduce perceived control of linear media – the Bob Iger Disney issues comes to mind, an attempt to hassle Disney’s operation of their owned and operated television group.
• Favorable applicants and owners will continue to get favorable treatment such as the ability for failing radio groups to sell 100% interest to foreign investors.
• The current FCC allowed Audacy’s emergence from bankruptcy to be approved without consideration of foreign ownership issues.
• An all-out attempt to reverse Audacy’s approval to emerge from bankruptcy based on pure political considerations and not precedent on current facts in spite of the fact that it is unlikely to happen.

What it means

At the exact wrong time, the FCC which some have considered feckless under both political parties will fail to help struggling media companies survive bankruptcy, a declining linear business in the digital age and debt issues.

The author of this commentary is the publisher of Inside Music Media, where this commentary first appeared. Subscription info can be found here.