DOJ: Clear Channel must sell four stations

Washington -- The U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday Clear Channel Communications Inc. must sell stations in four cities in order to win approval for its sale.

A group of private equity investors led by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners is trying to acquire a controlling interest in Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio station operator.

The Justice Department said the deal as originally proposed would have unfairly raised radio advertising rates in Cincinnati, Houston, Las Vegas and San Francisco because the perspective buyers already have ownership interests in two companies that compete with Clear Channel in those cities.

Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee have ownership interests in Cumulus Media Partners LLC, which owns radio stations in the four cities, the Justice Department said.

"Without the divestitures obtained by the Department, advertisers that rely on radio advertising in the affected cities likely would have faced higher prices," Asst. Attorney General Thomas Barnett, who leads the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, said in a statement.

"The divestitures will ensure that advertisers will continue to receive the benefits of competition," he added.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.