Client Alert
Cumulus/Citadel: Is 40% Market Concentration the Threshold for JSAs and Station Group Deals?
September 15, 2011
Michael P.A. Cohen, Matthew L. Gibson & Eric Dodson Greenberg
On September 8, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced that it would condition its approval of Cumulus Media Inc.s proposed merger with Citadel Broadcasting on the divestiture of three radio stations in two overlap markets. In its court filings, the DOJ emphasized that the proposed transaction would result in Cumulus/Citadel controlling more than 40 percent of the radio advertising market in the Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and Flint, Michigan, Arbitron Metros. The DOJ also stated that the proposed settlement would preserve choices for advertisers by preventing excessive market concentration through the divestitures that would bring market concentration to below 40 percent in both Metros.