CBS plans to sell or spin off its slow-growth drain on resources radio assets in the coming year, assets that can be better directed to content production and digital endeavors.
CBS chairman-CEO Leslie Moonves confirmed the plan Tuesday during CBS’ Investor Day presentation in New York.
Moonves said CBS would explore a variety of alternatives for the group include a sale, swap or spinoff of the group, just as CBS spun off its outdoor advertising group in 2014. The goal, he said, is to “unlock value for our shareholders,” but he vowed to the crowd of Wall Streeters that “we will be prudent and judicious as we go, as we are in all such endeavors.”
The Eye owns 117 stations in 26 markets, including clusters in such top markets as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
In recent months Moonves has hinted that CBS was leaning toward selling some or all of its stations. CBS took a $484 million write-down on the value of its radio station group in the fourth quarter, citing “the sustained decline in industry projections for the radio advertising marketplace since 2014.”
The paring would include WFAN and WCBS in NY. IF it can find a buyer.
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