Justice Department officials have cleared the way for Liberty Media to increase its shares in iHeartMedia, the owner of the nation’s largest network of broadcast stations.
Under the deal approved Wednesday, Liberty would be allowed to increase its stake in iHeartMedia up to 50%, according to Politico.
Liberty now has a 5% stake in iHeartMedia.
More than 850 AM and FM radio stations are owned by iHeartMedia, the world’s top commercial publisher of podcasts. Liberty already owns a controlling stake in SiriusXM.
A spokesperson for iHeartRadio confirmed the Justice Department’s approval of the deal, according to Politico.
Certain lenders and noteholders of iHeartMedia said in February that Liberty Media had proposed to buy a 40% stake in a restructured version of iHeart for $1.16 billion.
A coalition of consumer and anti-monopoly groups had maintained the deal would be “likely catastrophic” on radio markets and lead to less diversity in programming and higher prices, Politico noted.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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