• February 2, 2003

Lawyers for Clear Channel and Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. were able to convince a Florida judge to toss out a suit brought by Spanish Broadcasting Systems last June in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. It charged Clear Channel and HBC with violating federal antitrust laws. It also accused Clear Channel with attempting to block SBS’ attempts to raise capital from Wall Street, as well as charging that it stole away key employees and unfairly engaged in bidding wars to buy stations. Their motive, charged SBS, was to leave SBS in such a state that Clear Channel and HBC could swoop-in and buy it. The judge, however, ruled that SBS did not provide enough evidence to back its claims. “Folks are making inaccurate claims about our company that have no basis in reality,” said Clear Channel CEO Lowry Mays. “We have risen above the chatter and proven that we are a good company, with ethics, integrity and sound business practices.” The case may not be over, however. Spanish Broadcasting says it plans to appeal the judge’s ruling. “We will continue to prosecute this case vigorously and have every confidence that SBS’ claims will be reinstated and vindicated upon appeal,” it said in a statement.