Looks like a joining of two major radio enities won’t be happening, at least for now.
The New York Times, via its Dealbook newsletter, reported this morning that a proposed merger of satellite radio company SiriusXM and terrestrial radio conglomerate iHeart Media has been at least temporarily aborted because the two companies have been unable to reach an agreement.
The radio trade website Radio Insight reported that one factor in the stalled negotiations was SiriusXM’s plans to divest the actual radio licences of iHeart radio stations after the deal is consummated. iHeart owns 855 radio signals (including six stations in the Atlanta market, WBIN, WBZW, WBZY, WRDG, WUBL, and WPWW).
NYT says the merger talks could restart in the future because both want to be less reliant on radio advertising revenues and maximize their digital and podcasting holdings.
Both iHeart and SiriusXM have a rich library of content, both live and on podcasts, that would be quite formidable if the companies joined. SiriusXM has Howard Stern, CNN, Fox News, and various artist driven music and comedy channels. iHeart has various music, news and sports content via it’s terestrial and digital radio outlets.
