Talk:Aloha Station Trust

A matter of interpretation
This article implies that these stations are on the block. Industry observers suggest that the purpose of the trust is to speed FCC approval of the going-private transaction (which counts as a "transfer of control" for FCC purposes), and many of these stations will be transferred back to Clear Channel once the private equity buyers have closed and the Commission approves assignment to the new owenrs of those stations which are actually intended to be sold. The reason for this is that a transfer of control terminates the grandfathering of clusters which are over the ownership limits under current rules. (I don't think this is spelled out explicitly in the rules, but the Commission's rationale in adopting Note 4 of Galaxy Broadcasting would apply a fortiori to a transfer of control.) At least some of the stations being transferred to Aloha are in markets Clear Channel is expected to hold on to, and the exact lineup of stations they will keep in the formerly-grandfathered markets obviously depends on deals which have yet to be negotiated. See, for example, under "New York" and  under "Connecticut". 121a0012 02:34, 19 July 2007 (UTC)