Clear Channel to break into TV with Seacrest

DANA POINT, California (AP) — Radio broadcasting giant Clear Channel is breaking into the TV production business.

The company announced Tuesday that it is taking a minority stake in the production company of "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest.

Ryan Seacrest Media produces "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and other spin-offs involving the celebrity family. Its other shows include "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution."

In a separate deal, Clear Channel's majority investors, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, are committing $300 million combined to work with Seacrest's company to identify, acquire and develop innovative media companies.

At an All Things D conference Tuesday, Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman said the new venture will aim to break into the TV production market and use Clear Channel's massive radio network to help promote the shows.

He said the same formula helped launch the Fox network in the late 1980s.

"Their secret weapon was they used radio to promote their new shows," Pittman said. "So today, why can't we use our own advertising for Ryan's shows and give them a lift?"

Seacrest will remain majority owner of his company, which will keep producing shows for network and studio partners such as Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal.

"We aim to build Ryan Seacrest Media into a leading multimedia company with diversified assets and interests," Seacrest said in a statement. "The entertainment industry is thriving with innovation more than ever before."

The announcement is the latest move by Clear Channel to spread its reach into forms of distribution beyond its more than 850 radio stations and network of outdoor billboards.

Last year, Clear Channel Radio, a subsidiary of CC Media Holdings Inc., launched the online radio service iHeart Radio to compete with market leader Pandora Media Inc. In mid-January, Clear Channel Radio changed its corporate name to Clear Channel Media and Entertainment.

Pittman has said the company aims to reach audiences in all formats and devices.

Since joining Clear Channel with a personal $5 million investment in November 2010, Pittman has tried to expand the company's reach beyond traditional radio. Pittman was named CEO of CC Media Holdings in October. Previously, he was CEO of MTV Networks and chief operating officer of what is now AOL Inc.,

The company was taken private in 2008 by Thomas H. Lee and Bain but has struggled under the debt load created by the acquisition. The company's long-term debt reached about nearly $20 billion at the end of September.

All Things D, a website owned by News Corp.'s The Wall Street Journal, hosts several conferences a year. The latest version, "D: Dive Into Media," focuses on the intersection between traditional media companies and technology.

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Oprah Winfrey expanding her role at OWN channel (AP)

NEW YORK – Oprah Winfrey is expanding her role at her struggling network beyond the position of chairman.

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network announced Wednesday that she will also become the chief executive officer and chief creative officer beginning this fall.

Winfrey is claiming the title once held by Christina Norman, the former CEO who was dismissed in May in the wake of disappointing ratings for the channel. Norman's position has been filled in the interim by Peter Liguori, the chief operating officer for Discovery Communications.

OWN premiered Jan. 1. It's a joint venture of Discovery and Winfrey's Harpo, Inc.

Winfrey's syndicated talk show ended in May. She has since pledged to devote her full energies to OWN.

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Clear Channel swipes at Pandora with iheart revamp (AP)

LOS ANGELES – Radio station giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. is taking a swipe at online music service Pandora with a revamp of its iheartradio application that imitates Pandora's personalized listening experience but doesn't mimic the startup's need to turn a profit.

The operator of over 850 radio stations nationwide is kicking off the new service with a star-studded two-day concert in Las Vegas on Sept. 23 and 24 featuring acts including Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas and Jennifer Lopez.

Bob Pittman, chairman of media and entertainment platforms for Clear Channel Communications Inc., said the success of Pandora Media Inc. proves that people like being able to stream songs according to their personal tastes on mobile devices.

Pittman said iheartradio will adopt that feature in a gradual relaunch over the coming months.

Pandora went public with an initial offering of shares last month but its stock price has seen-sawed as euphoria among Internet investors gave way to the reality that its ad revenue has not grown fast enough to cover the royalties that it pays to play music. Pandora's stock closed at $19.27 on Friday, about 19 percent above its initial public offering price.

Pittman said Clear Channel, a privately held company that had $5.9 billion in revenue last year, doesn't need to turn a profit if its new service helps reach audiences in different ways.

"To us it doesn't matter if it ever succeeds as a business," Pittman said in an interview. "We only have to have it succeed as a feature."

Pandora has said it has about 94 million registered users and more than 30 million listeners a month.

Pittman said Clear Channel isn't far behind, with about 27 million monthly online visitors, although that figure includes visitors of radio station websites and those who listen to the iheartradio application. Clear Channel reaches 237 million listeners over traditional radio airwaves every month.

Iheartradio allows listeners to hear the feeds of stations outside their market and to certain channels that stream music along specific genres. Clear Channel acquired streaming music company Thumb play in March, and used its technology as the basis for the new customized radio feature.

Pittman said that the new iheartradio app will have access to 10 million tracks, millions more than Pandora, and run without ads for the rest of the year. The company is also offering freebie concert packages to listeners to build buzz around the relaunch.

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