(The Hollywood Reporter) — One satellite radio company was rumored to be interested in acquiring ABC Radio from the Walt Disney Co. on July 13, while the other made an acquisition.
XM Satellite Radio said it agreed to pay about $196 million in stock for WCS Wireless, a privately held company whose principal assets are spectrum licenses covering 15 of the top 20 metropolitan markets, an area covering 163 million Americans.
XM was vague July 13 about what its plans for WCS Wireless are, except that it will give the company “an exceptional opportunity to expand its existing business with a variety of multimedia subscription services, including innovative video and data offerings.”
XM, which exchanged 5.5 million shares of its stock for WCS Wireless, said it will announce more detailed plans concerning the asset in the future. It expects the transaction to close by year’s end.
Meanwhile, rumors of Sirius Satellite Radio’s interest in acquiring ABC Radio surfaced, prompting one analyst to dismiss the idea as unwise from a Sirius perspective.
“It is not clear to us that compelling synergies would arise from relatively incompatible satellite and terrestrial models,” an analyst with Standard & Poor’s Equity Research said.
Published reports indicating that Disney has been mulling a sale of its radio assets started several weeks ago and heated up this week, though Disney hasn’t commented on the speculation.
