Clear Channel UK: Encyclopedia - Clear Channel UK

Clear Channel UK

Clear Channel UK is the UK division of Clear Channel Communications, the global media conglomerate based in the United States. It operates through a complex group structure, with some 70 UK subsidiary companies.

Over the past few years, Clear Channel has been acquiring media outlets in the UK, starting with the takeover of Adshel, which gave it a large share of the UK billboard market, as well as a virtual monopoly on bus shelter advertising in the Republic of Ireland. It has continued with the strategic acquisition of the Mean Fiddler organisation, giving it a stake in most major music festivals and medium-sized London music venues. It is expected to continue expanding over the next few years.

Clear Channel UK - Controversy

Clear Channel has been accused, in the US, of right wing and pro war bias. Some fear that, if the company continues to grow in the UK, it may use its assets to pursue this political agenda. See also Clear Channel#Controversy.

Clear Channel UK - Events and Venues owned or partially owned by Clear Channel UK

Clear Channel UK - Venues

• Brixton Academy
• The Mean Fiddler
• The Lyceum Theatre

Clear Channel UK - Events

• Large-scale open air concerts in Hyde Park, London.
• Download festival
• Motor racing at Donington Park
• Through its stake in Mean Fiddler:
  • Reading and Leeds Festivals
  • Glastonbury Festival
  • V Festival
  • Homelands festival

Clear Channel UK - Advertising Assets

• Taxi Media UK

Clear Channel UK - Corporate Structure

Clear Channel UK - Relation to ClearChannel Group Structure

Clear Channel has 3 main UK holding companies (highlighted in red on the table below), all of which are wholly-owned subsidiaries of ClearChannel International Holdings BV, registered in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications Inc, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Clear Channel UK - List of Main UK subsidiaries

This information was taken from the UK Companies Database in April 2005, and re-ordered to show the relationships between holding companies and subsidiaries more clearly. Each company's subsidiaries are displayed directly below it. Each line shows, in the follwing order:

• Number of holding companies. This shows the 'level of ownership' of the company - the number of holding companies between it and Clear Channel Communications Inc, the main Clear Channel company which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Clear Channel Entertainment UK Holdings and the other 2 main holding companies (shown in red) are held by 2 'parent' companies - ClearChannel International Holdings BV, registered in the Netherlands, and Clear Channel Communications Inc, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Their subsidiaries (in dark grey) have 3 holding (parent) companies. Their subsidiaries (light grey) have 4 holding companies, and so forth.

• Number of subsidiary companies. This table only shows the main subsidiary companies. Some of the light grey companies have many subsidiaries which are listed in the table below. This layout is intended to make the table clearer.

• Notes from the Companies Database indicating the company's purpose.

Please note that:

• the information given in the Companies Database is not fully up to date - companies normally have a time window in which to file documents, and even when filed, the documents may take some time to become available on the database. Most notably, the Mean Fiddler takeover is not yet shown on the Companies Database.
• Both tables only include active companies. Companies officially designated as 'dormant' or 'wound up' are not shown in the table, but are counted as 'subsidiaries' in the table above. This is why some companies in the table above will show more subsidiaries than are included in the table below.

Clear Channel UK - List of Minor UK Subsidiaries

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Clear Channel UK", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki