Field Dispatch
iHeartMedia + SiriusXM merger | Matt Connarton Unleashed
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia and Serious XM possibly merging. This is a big deal.
Speaker 1: You know. We've seen in the radio industry so much
Speaker 1: consolidation over the past twenty twenty five years, and it
Speaker 1: looks like there's about to be even more of it.
Speaker 1: If you're not familiar with Serious XM, of course, I
Speaker 1: mean they had merged. There used to be at one
Speaker 1: time there were two satellite radio companies, Serious and XM.
Speaker 1: Serious Satellite Radio and XM, and then they merged and
Speaker 1: became Serious XM. And now iHeartMedia, which used to be
Speaker 1: what did they used to be starts with a C
Speaker 1: clear channel, took me a second clear channel, ended up
Speaker 1: becoming iHeartMedia. They're the biggest largest owner of radio stations
Speaker 1: across the United States, so they're a big deal. They
Speaker 1: also have a podcasting platform. But iHeartMedia is in talks
Speaker 1: to be acquired by Serious XM holdings. I'm surprised it's
Speaker 1: not the other way around. But let's take a look
Speaker 1: at this. You know, sirius, they've been in a lot
Speaker 1: of financial trouble for a long time because the thing
Speaker 1: about satellite radio and what was it about, you know,
Speaker 1: early two thousands when when it became a thing. The
Speaker 1: thing about satellite radio is great idea. You know, you've
Speaker 1: got you've got a satellite radio transponder in your car,
Speaker 1: and then you've got all these different channels you can
Speaker 1: listen to. And of course the big draw for serious
Speaker 1: XM is Howard Stern, the biggest draw, or at least was.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he still is, but but he
Speaker 1: he very well maybe, And uh, so you could listen
Speaker 1: to all this stuff uncensored because it's satellite, so it's
Speaker 1: not not controlled by the FCC in terms of regulating
Speaker 1: what you can say and can't say and the music
Speaker 1: that you play, and in terms of profanity and so forth.
Speaker 1: So it's completely uncensored and uh, commercial free, or at
Speaker 1: least when it launched. That's not the case anymore. But
Speaker 1: but you know it was, uh, I don't know where
Speaker 1: that tone came from or if that showed up on
Speaker 1: the recording that deeming anyway, somewhere on this computer, something's
Speaker 1: making a noise, but regardless. So the problem though that
Speaker 1: satellite radio ended up running into that I guess nobody
Speaker 1: saw coming was the rise of streaming and podcasting. So
Speaker 1: the Internet is kind of I think for especially for
Speaker 1: younger and younger generations who are listening to terrestrial radio
Speaker 1: much less and less and are listening to streaming streaming platforms,
Speaker 1: are watching streams and podcasts and so forth. That's why
Speaker 1: everything that we do, you know, the shows that we
Speaker 1: do here at WM and H. Of course, just like
Speaker 1: every other radio station, they also are podcasts there. They're
Speaker 1: streaming live as we do them. You know, you're not
Speaker 1: just listening into your car. Obviously, we have listeners all
Speaker 1: over the world because they stream the show and then
Speaker 1: after I get off the air today, I will upload
Speaker 1: the podcast. Then it becomes a podcast and you can
Speaker 1: stream the podcast on demand, you can download it whatever,
Speaker 1: so you can watch it online on social media. So
Speaker 1: you know, so the radio industry has had to adapt
Speaker 1: in that way. But it kind of the rise of
Speaker 1: streaming and podcasting really took a big bite out of
Speaker 1: the whole appeal and the whole point of satellite radio,
Speaker 1: right because now everyone streams in their cars. So here's
Speaker 1: what's happening right now. And I'm almost surprised that nothing
Speaker 1: like this has happened or been talked about sooner, at
Speaker 1: least that I'm aware of. But it says here and
Speaker 1: this is from Music Businessworldwide dot com, which again is
Speaker 1: a great site. I read an article from it earlier
Speaker 1: in the show Great Side for Music Industry News. It
Speaker 1: says iHeartMedia is reportedly in preliminary talks to be acquired
Speaker 1: by Serious XM Holdings in a deal that would bring
Speaker 1: together two audio giants under pressure from on demand streaming platforms.
Speaker 1: And again that's what I was talking about. On demand
Speaker 1: streaming has really just taken a huge bite. Obviously it's
Speaker 1: affected radio terrestrial radio AM and FM radio, but it's
Speaker 1: also had a huge effect on satellite radio. This is
Speaker 1: according to Bloomberg, which reported over the weekend, citing people
Speaker 1: familiar with the discussions, that the talks are still at
Speaker 1: an early stage and may not result in a deal.
Speaker 1: Representatives for both companies decline to comment to Bloomberg. Music
Speaker 1: executive Irving Azoff has been working with Apollo Globe Management
Speaker 1: on proposals to merge the two companies. The report said
Speaker 1: a combined entity would generate more than twelve billion dollars
Speaker 1: in annual revenue. According to Bloomberg on Tuesday, April twenty eight,
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia shares rose I don't want to get into the numbers.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna skip down a little bit. iHeartMedia operates more
Speaker 1: than eight hundred and sixty radio stations across one hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty markets. That's how big. Again, it used to
Speaker 1: be Clear Channel. Clear Channel used to be at the
Speaker 1: giant that it became iHeartMedia. I don't remember how it
Speaker 1: became iHeartMedia. I don't remember member if there was a
Speaker 1: merger and they needed a new I don't remember the
Speaker 1: details of that. But it just used to be Clear Channel,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. But again, they operate eight hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty radio stations across one hundred and sixty markets
Speaker 1: across the country, while SERIOUSXM, which operates a satellite radio
Speaker 1: service primarily for in car use, although you can you
Speaker 1: can put the app on your phone or any mobile device,
Speaker 1: a streaming app, and the SERIOUSXM podcast network, reaches a
Speaker 1: combined monthly audience of about one hundred and seventy million listeners.
Speaker 1: So the subscriber base for satellite radio is still very large.
Speaker 1: I mean, one hundred and seventy million listeners is a lot,
Speaker 1: it says here. Bloomberg said. Both companies, despite being the
Speaker 1: dominant players in their respective businesses, are struggling to attract
Speaker 1: new customers and compete with streaming platforms like Spotify and
Speaker 1: Apple Music. To better compete with these digital service providers,
Speaker 1: SERIOUSXM in July twenty twenty five, I've launched a new
Speaker 1: lower priced ad supported tier called Serious XM Play, priced
Speaker 1: at less than seven dollars a month. That same two
Speaker 1: years after Serious XM launched a nine to ninety nine
Speaker 1: a month Spotify challenger. The reported merger comes as more
Speaker 1: people listen to podcasts daily than to talk radio programming,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg said, citing Edison research. Both companies have tried to adapt,
Speaker 1: with SERIOUSXM acquiring online radio service Pandora in twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: for three and a half billion billion with a B,
Speaker 1: introducing a new app, and locking up exclusive distribution rights
Speaker 1: to podcast like SmartLess and Call Her Daddy. iHeartMedia has
Speaker 1: also built on its own podcast operation, distributing shows like
Speaker 1: My Favorite Murder, The Breakfast Club, and Las Culturistas. The
Speaker 1: company's podcasting revenue grew twenty six percent in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: while radio revenue fell four percent. In December, iHeartMedia partnered
Speaker 1: with Netflick for an exclusive video podcasting partnership that includes
Speaker 1: all new episodes from the company's podcast lineup. The company
Speaker 1: carries about five billion dollars in total debt following a
Speaker 1: bankruptcy in twenty eighteen, said Bloomberg. Wait, who's oh, iHeartMedia?
Speaker 1: So iHeartMedia has five billion dollars in debt following a
Speaker 1: bankruptcy in twenty eighteen. And by the way, for anyone
Speaker 1: who's confused about the bankruptcy thing, bankruptcy doesn't mean you
Speaker 1: go out of business necessarily. It may mean that your
Speaker 1: debt becomes restructured, but you continue. There's different types of
Speaker 1: bankruptcy and so forth. For anyone who's puzzled by how
Speaker 1: can they have gone through bankruptcy and still be operating,
Speaker 1: it says here. The continued growth in the podcast business
Speaker 1: prompted other digital service providers and social media platforms to
Speaker 1: expand their presence in the market. In October, Netflix and
Speaker 1: Spotify struck a deal for Netflix to stream video podcasts
Speaker 1: from Spotify Studios and The Ringer starting this year. Earlier
Speaker 1: in March, Spotify partnered with Hibe to put is that
Speaker 1: how you say that? Hybe Hibe to put? I'm not
Speaker 1: familiar with it? To put original K pop video podcasts
Speaker 1: on their streaming platform. In January, Spotify launched a new
Speaker 1: podcast studio in Hollywood. Okay, da da da da. So
Speaker 1: this's all this stuff they've been doing. But anyway, the
Speaker 1: point is this merger, it's very early, may not even happen,
Speaker 1: we'll see. But more consolidation, My opinion is more consolidation
Speaker 1: in the radio industry is not particularly a good thing,
Speaker 1: but inevitable. There's sure been a lot of it.
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