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Date Posted: 22:21:31 03/15/05 Tue
Author: No name
Subject: Annenberg Business is Now Clear Channel
In reply to: 's message, "Citizen Annenberg So Long Rotten Bastard" on 22:20:03 03/15/05 Tue

be the the Mafia owns TV Guide, Major Philadelphia Newspapers, TV and Radio Stations.

<a rel=nofollow target=_blank href="http://thepublicinterest.blogspot.com/">http://thepublicinterest.blogspot.com/</a>

Clear Channel faces US inquiry

Radio giant Clear Channel is being investigated over claims of abusing its market dominance, a US government official has revealed.

The justice department official said an "open investigation" was being conducted into the US' largest radio group 18 months after a congressman first called for an inquiry.

Hewitt Pate, the department's head of antitrust, told a congressional committee investigators had made "significant efforts to find additional evidence" and had held "a number of interviews".

"The Clear Channel matter is one of importance to us," Mr Pate said. "We have an open investigation and we're going to continue to pursue that."

Mr Pate was replying to congressman Howard Berman, who had criticised officials for their "unwillingness" to follow up formal complaints he made against the radio group in January 2002.

Clear Channel, which owns more than 1,200 stations in the US, has been accused of using its market position to shut out its competitors.

Two sets of allegations were being pursued by the justice department, Mr Pate said, including a charge that Clear Channel restricted the airplay time of music artists unwilling to use its concert promotion services.

But Mr Pate warned: "Commercial frustration that artists know that they have with Clear Channel from time to time is a different question from whether we can prove the presence of market power and the use of that power in a tying situation under [antitrust law]."

The senior vice president for government affairs at Clear Channel, Andrew Levin, said the company was confident it would escape censure. "When you run a big company, engaging in complex transactions, inquiries of this sort become fairly routine," Mr Levin said in a statement.

"We are co-operating fully with all DoJ requests and we are confident the DoJ will find, as it has in the past, that our company is managed with the highest degree of integrity," he added.

Clear Channel has become the chief target for critics of media laws in the US, and has been accused of stifling voices opposed to the Bush administration.

In the UK Clear Channel is now the leading player in the outdoor advertising market, and owns the SFX sports agency that handles the likes of David Beckham, Michael Owen and Gary Lineker.

Many commentators expect the group to take a keen interest in the UK radio market following relaxation of ownership rules in the Communications Act, looking to snap up companies like Capital Radio.

The Capital chief executive, David Mansfield, has said he would reject a merger, arguing there would be a "cultural clash" between his company and the American group.

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