Octopus

And the FCC wants to deregulate media ownership rules even more?? Take a look at this:

The new octopus*
What Clear Channel owns in the Bay Area
Radio stations
KABL-AM
KCNL-FM
KFJO-FM
KISQ-FM
KKSF-FM
KMEL-FM
KNEW-AM
KSJO-FM
KYLD-FM
K101-FM

Event promotion
Bill Graham Presents

Venues
Clear Channel either owns, operates, or exclusively books the following:
Chronicle Pavilion
Fillmore
Greek Theatre
Punchline
Shoreline Amphitheatre
Warfield

Billboards
Clear Channel Outdoor (owns roughly half of the billboards in San Francisco)

News racks
Adshel Inc. (has the contract to build, operate, and sell ads on more than 1,000 pedestal-mounted news racks in San Francisco)

*This chart shows what Clear Channel Communications Inc. owns in the San Francisco Bay Area. The broad range of holdings allows for what is known as “vertical integration” – Clear Channel owns the radio stations that play (and thus promote) music and performers, owns the venues where those musicians perform, and owns the company that promotes those events. The Clear Channel also owns half of the city’s billboards and also has the contract to build and operate the pedestal-mounted news racks that will soon be the only legal method of newspaper distribution in parts of San Francisco.

Man, I hope these hearings amount to something.