Reply #12: A few clarifications [View All]

[LTR]

I'm not defending CC (I wouldn't think of it!), but I just wanted to step in and get some of the facts straight.

First, I'm not sure if CC still holds a stake in XM. I've heard varying stories, but I do know that they hold no controlling interest in XM.

Second, the Colmes thing, I believe, was a contractual obligation. That's all been taken care of. And CC doesn't really put Colmes on many of their progressive talk stations, often preferring either Malloy or Lionel - both good choices, IMO.

And the FOX news updates are a production of Clear Channel, via their syndication arm Premiere. FOX doesn't really run that operation. Seems that CC wanted their own news network affiliation for their stations, to go up against ABC, CBS, CNN, etc. So CC, who already partner with FOX Sports for their radio network, developed a FOX News radio network, in order to create their own news network without having to deal with companies like ABC, which demands carriage of 157 year-old commentator Paul Harvey. In situations where CC owns multiple talk stations, one usually takes FOX, and the others affiliate with the established news nets (a good example of this is the Cincinnati market).