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posted by cmn32480 on Friday January 06 2017, @03:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the ¡-Sí-Señor-! dept.

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a measure that relaxes foreign ownership rules to enable Grupo Televisa of Mexico to claim a larger stake of the U.S. Spanish-language broadcasting giant Univision Communications.

The move comes just days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Univision's chairman, Haim Saban, has been lobbying the FCC for the waiver for more than three years. The measure, which was approved by the FCC's Media Bureau late Tuesday, will enable Univision's private equity owners to sell some of their shares in Univision to Televisa.

"We find that the public interest would not be served by refusing to grant Univision's petition for a declaratory ruling to permit foreign ownership of Univision Holdings," William T. Lake, chief of the FCC's Media Bureau, wrote in Tuesday's 11-page order.

The order noted that allowing Televisa to increase its stake in Univision would not jeopardize national security concerns. The move might also allow an increased financial investment in the Spanish-language media company.

Several of the private equity firms have been eager to unload their stakes in Univision, which is struggling with plummeting prime-time ratings and lower revenue.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Friday January 06 2017, @03:56PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday January 06 2017, @03:56PM (#450266)

    Several of the private equity firms have been eager to unload their stakes in Univision, which is struggling with plummeting prime-time ratings and lower revenue.

    The move might also allow an increased financial investment in the Spanish-language media company.

    First off, if the channel is struggling with viewership and revenue, and its owners are desperate to sell it off, what kind of idiot would want to increase investment into it (rather than getting it for pennies on the dollar and milking it dry)?

    But more importantly, why is this being allowed at all? Surely this rule about foreign ownership of media is there for a reason, and the private equity firms that own it now knew perfectly well about this when they bought into this company. So why should they be allowed to sell it off to a foreign country? This shouldn't be allowed at all; they should just be stuck with it (unless they can find a domestic company willing to buy it, though probably for much less money), and if that makes them go bankrupt, so be it. They knew the risks when they got involved, so they should suffer the consequences now that it turns out it was a bad investment.

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  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @06:14PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @06:14PM (#450327)

    > Surely this rule about foreign ownership of media is there for a reason,

    And surely the process of applying for an exemption is there for a reason too.

    > what kind of idiot would want to increase investment into it (rather than getting it for pennies on the dollar and milking it dry)?

    Because they think current management is misguided and that buy acquiring a large enough share they can change management?

    Really I don't know. But neither do you. Your post is all innuendo and angry hand-waving. You aren't adding any new info to the discussion, just kinda shitting on things to make yourself feel smart. Its obnoxious.

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @06:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @06:17PM (#450331)

    Free market, laissez faire, capitalism, etc.

    Why do you hate economic freedom?