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Denver concert promoter sues Clear ChannelBy Times staff and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times, LOS ANGELES -- A small Denver concert promoter has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Clear Channel Communications Inc., charging the radio station behemoth with monopolizing the concert promotion world. Nobody in Particular Presents, the promoter, says Clear Channel and its affiliates used their stations to play Clear Channel-promoted artists in the Denver area while excluding or limiting airplay of artists promoted by Nobody in Particular and other small companies. The suit, filed in Denver federal court last week, also says artists are threatened they will lose airplay and on-air promotions unless they use Clear Channel as their promoter. Nobody in Particular is seeking unspecified damages for lost customers, profit and market share. "We're just a small company fighting this giant, but we believe that our complaint speaks to how Clear Channel can and should operate nationally," Jesse Morreale, co-owner of Nobody in Particular, told Reuters. "And we hope that resolving the issue in our own market will provide some guidelines for the entire business." Many in the radio and concert industry fear Clear Channel is using its widespread holdings to muscle out rivals. Clear Channel has been the market leader of concert promotion since it acquired SFX Entertainment for $4-billion last year. Acquisitions also have made it the dominant force in radio with its 1,200 stations. The company owns eight stations in Tampa: WFLZ-FM 93.3, WSSR-FM 95.7, WXTB-FM 97.9, WMTX-FM 100.7, WTBT-FM 103.5, WDAE-AM 620, WFLA-AM 970 and WHNZ-AM 1250. And Clear Channel owns about 135 concert venues. The company denied the lawsuit's allegations and said the complaint is Denver issue, not a national one. In Washington, D.C., Mark O'Brien, general manager of a top 40 station owned by Bonneville International Corp., said Clear Channel filed suit when his station tried to give away away tickets and trips this year to the Wango Tango pop concert held each summer in Los Angeles. In a letter, Clear Channel said the name Wango Tango was "service marked" -- something like a trademark -- by one of its subsidiaries and that it owned the concert business that was putting on the show. So only Clear Channel stations could promote the show or give away tickets unless the company gave other stations permission. After negotiations failed, Bonneville agreed to stop its promotion if Clear Channel bought the tickets it had purchased and dropped the suit, which it did. "There's no question that we play tough," Clear Channel spokeswoman Pam Taylor told the Washington Post. "But we play by the rules, and we play fair." Clear Channel also is being sued by Gerard Del Colliano, publisher of the radio industry newsletterInside Radio. Del Colliano says Clear Channel is trying to harass him out of business after the newsletter published unflattering stories about it. Clear Channel says the suit is without merit. Staff writer Pamela Davis contributed to this report.
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From the wire |
