BILLBOARD INDUSTRY FACTS. For information on the three conglomerates that control most of the state's billboards, as well as other information on the billboard industry, see below:
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. (NYSE: CCU):
The following statement appears on Clear Channel's website (visited 8-18-02): "Including announced transactions, Clear Channel operates approximately 1,225 radio and 37 television stations in the United States and has equity interests in over 240 radio stations internationally. Clear Channel also operates approximately 776,000 outdoor advertising displays, including billboards, street furniture and transit panels around the world." See http://www.clearchannel.com.
Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B):
The following statements appear on Viacom's website (visited 8-18-02): "Viacom's well-known brands include CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET, Paramount Pictures, Viacom Outdoor, Infinity, UPN, TNN: The National Network, CMT: Country Music Television, Showtime, Blockbuster, and Simon & Schuster. ... Viacom Outdoor is the largest outdoor advertising entity in North America, with significant outdoor advertising properties in all of the nation's top 100 markets. Viacom Outdoor is made up of well over one million display faces worldwide, with more than 100,000 billboards in North American and 800,000 billboards and hundreds of thousands of transit display faces in Europe." See http://www.viacom.com.
Lamar Advertising Company. (NASDAQ: LAMR):
The following statement appears on Lamar's website (visited 8-18-02): "Lamar currently operates 152 outdoor advertising companies in 44 states and is the nation's leader in the highway logo sign business, with operations in 21 of the 26 states that have privatized their logo programs as well as in the province of Ontario, Canada. ... Currently, Lamar operates more than 130,000 billboards and more than 90,000 logo sign displays across the country." See http://www.lamar.com.
Note re Cross-Promotion: In many Florida
markets, giant billboards are now routinely used to cross-promote the
conglomerates' other assets. Clear Channel and Viacom often use their
billboards to promote their radio stations and radio personalities, such as
"Bubba the Love Sponge" and "Orlando and the Freak Show." Clear Channel
Communications, Inc.'s 2001 Annual Report (10-K) states: "Additionally,
we seek to create situations in which we own more than one type of medium in
the same market. Aside from the provision of added flexibility to our
clients, this 'cross-ownership' allows us ancillary benefits, such as the use
of otherwise vacant outdoor advertising space to promote our broadcasting
assets, or the sharing of on-air talent across our broadcasting assets to
promote one of our live entertainment events or venues. ... By
complementing our radio operations with our other businesses, we are able to
increase revenue and profitability through synergies such as cross selling and
cross promoting, utilizing our outdoor advertising and entertainment
operations."
See http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/739708/000095013402002365/d94835e10-k.txt
Note re Powerful Presence: The billboard industry's powerful
presence in Florida is sometimes subtle. For example, the nation's seventh
largest billboard company, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association of
America (OAAA) website (visited on 8-28-02) is Fairway Outdoor Advertising based
in Augusta, GA. Fairway Outdoor Advertising is "a division of Morris
Communications Corporation." Morris Communications Corporation owns The
Florida Times-Union, published in Jacksonville, FL. On April 8, 2002, the
OAAA issued a press release that praised a new Florida law gutting home rule
control over billboards, and quoted a pro-billboard editorial that appeared ten
days earlier (March 29, 2002) in The Florida Times-Union. This was not the
first pro-billboard editorial to appear in Morris Communications Corporation's
Jacksonville newspaper, and the editorial made no reference to the fact that the
newspaper's owner is the seventh largest billboard operator in the United
States.
See http://www.fairwayoutdoor.com
See http://www.morris.com
See http://jacksonville.com/aboutus/
See http://www.oaaa.org/Publicside/InNews/LegalLegislative/FloridaJustCompensation.htm
See http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/032902/opi_9002356.html
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