Clear Channel wants you to know that they're more than just the largest radio broadcaster, operating more than 800 radio stations across the U.S. Thus, it's renaming itself Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, and pushing their proliferating digital channels, including the iHeartRadio digital platform, and it's content-creation activities (including Premiere Radio Networks and the Total Traffic Network.
While not abandoning the radio business that first brought Clear Channel to national prominence, it has slimmed down the broadcast station side, spinning off about a third of the stations acquired in an acquisition binge that followed the 1996 Telecommunications Act's lifting of national radio ownership caps. The shift in focus to content creation and distribution through a wide range of media and outlets can be seen as a reflection of what's seen as the limited growth potential of local radio broadcasting vs. the increasing demand for content and the rapid rise of digital and mobile media platforms. The iHeartRadio platform is configured both as a mobile distribution platform for radio stations and as a social media platform, hoping to create synergy between mobile, social, and audio media use. On the other hand, the corporate emphasis on tightly controlled national programming feeds for its local stations may save some operating costs, but ignores the real competitive advantage of local broadcasting - the ability to build relationships with local audiences.
Clear Channel Communications also owns Clear Channel Outdoor, which focuses on display ads in a variety of venues (billboards, venue displays (stadiums, airports, malls, transit systems, etc.), and is building a network of digital billboards and displays.
Source - Rebranded Clear Channel Downplays Radio, Pushes Cross-Platform, MediaDailyNews
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