Clear Channel Communications Inc

Clear Channel Communications Inc. directors authorized a $1-billion share buyback plan after completing most of an earlier $600-million repurchase.

Responding to anger over a new digital billboard in his district, Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti called Wednesday for new rules limiting outdoor signs from displaying electronic messages in residential neighborhoods. Garcetti proposed the new rules after the advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor last month switched a billboard in the 1700 block of Silver Lake Boulevard to digital images, infuriating his constituents.

Clear Channel Communications Inc. won U.S. regulatory approval to buy AMFM Inc. for $23 billion, creating the nation's largest radio broadcasting company after agreeing to sell 122 stations in 37 markets. Federal Communications Commission approval is the final action required for the transaction announced in October. The companies won Justice Department approval last month after agreeing to sell 99 radio stations in 27 markets.

Citigroup Inc. and five other banks sued Clear Channel Communications Inc. and its buyers, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, a week after the banks were sued for refusing to fund the $19.5-billion acquisition. The banks stand to lose at least $2.7 billion if forced to fund the deal because loan prices have fallen since they agreed to the transaction last April. They are seeking to limit their liability to $600 million, according to the countersuit filed in New York.

The future of Indie 103.1 FM, hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as "America's coolest commercial station," may be in jeopardy because a shift in federal regulations will force Clear Channel Communications Inc. to abandon its business partnership with the station's owner. Indie 103.1 is owned by Entravision Communications Corp., a Santa Monica-based Spanish-language media company.

Clear Channel Communications Inc. named Michael Rapino chief executive of its planned entertainment-business spinoff. The spinoff, temporarily called CCE SpinCo Inc., includes Clear Channel's live music, theater, sports representation and motor sports operations. Rapino, 39, succeeds interim CEO Randall Mays, son of founder Lowry Mays, the San Antonio-based company said.

Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s $19.5-billion sale to two private equity firms cleared its final regulatory hurdle with approval by the Justice Department's antitrust division. The purchase by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital can proceed if Clear Channel sells radio stations in four cities, the Justice Department said.

Clear Channel Communications Inc. said it planned to sell programming to other broadcasters for use on the air, in webcasts and other new forms of distribution. The company will sell audio programs, videos, still images and text for websites and new digital channels.

Clear Channel Communications Inc. has launched an online effort to trumpet the work of unsigned musicians. The Web site, Clear Channel New Music Network, will allow aspiring recording artists to register and post samples of their work. The site is designed to showcase the acts' work to record labels and music consumers. Clear Channel, the nation's biggest radio station owner and concert promoter, plans to promote the initiative on its stations, entertainment venues and other properties.

Clear Channel Communications Inc. said Providence Equity Partners Inc. might back out of a $1.2-billion agreement to acquire its 56 television stations. Providence might not close the deal on the terms agreed upon in April, San Antonio-based Clear Channel said. The sale outcome doesn't threaten Clear Channel's pending $19.5-billion takeover by Thomas H. Lee Partners Inc. and Bain Capital, the broadcasting company said.

A Texas judge issued a restraining order that in effect bars the banks that promised to finance the $19.5-billion buyout of Clear Channel Communications Inc. from backing out yet. Bexar County Judge John D. Gabriel issued a temporary restraining order just four hours after Clear Channel and the private equity buyers, led by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, sued Wednesday in Texas and New York.

Clear Channel Communications Inc., poised to go private in a $19.5-billion buyout, said fourth-quarter profit increased 52% on higher outdoor advertising sales. Net income rose to $320.6 million, or 65 cents a share, from $211.3 million, or 43 cents, a year earlier, said the San Antonio-based company, the largest U.S. radio broadcaster. Sales gained 3.7% to $1.84 billion. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting revenue of $1.87 billion. Profit excluding discontinued operations totaled 45 cents.

Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s $19.5-billion sale to two private equity firms cleared its final regulatory hurdle with approval by the Justice Department's antitrust division. The purchase by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital can proceed if Clear Channel sells radio stations in four cities, the Justice Department said.

Clear Channel Communications Inc. said Providence Equity Partners Inc. might back out of a $1.2-billion agreement to acquire its 56 television stations. Providence might not close the deal on the terms agreed upon in April, San Antonio-based Clear Channel said. The sale outcome doesn't threaten Clear Channel's pending $19.5-billion takeover by Thomas H. Lee Partners Inc. and Bain Capital, the broadcasting company said.

Radio station and billboard advertising leader Clear Channel Communications Inc. said third-quarter earnings surged 51% as outdoor advertising revenue continued to grow sharply. Net income for the July-September period climbed to $279.7 million, or 56 cents a share, from $185.9 million, or 38 cents, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected profit of 38 cents, on average. The company agreed in April to sell its 56 TV stations.

san antonio -- It took just about three weeks for the nation's biggest radio station operator, Clear Channel Communications Inc., to accept a buyout offer after announcing last fall that it was considering "strategic alternatives." It took 10 months longer for shareholders to OK the deal. On Tuesday, they approved a $19.5-billion buyout offer from a private equity group led by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners.

Miniature radio ads, spanning just a few seconds in length, are a hit in Hollywood, says market leader Clear Channel Communications Inc., which launched the spots known as blinks and adlets last year. Homer Simpson's unmistakable "D'oh!" or "Woohoo!" followed by the familiar tagline "Tonight on Fox!" for example, has been a popular two-second ad -- known as a blink -- for Fox Broadcasting. "We love the blinks and adlets.