In late August 2020, Anthony Bucher and his Hitmaker Music Group LLC agreed to purchase an AM, FM and FM translator serving Gainesville-Ocala, Fla.
A challenge was presented to the FCC that sought to block the deal. The Commission just said no to the petition.
On Sept. 15, 2020, Hitmaker took control via an LMA ahead of closing for WGGG-AM 1230 and FM translator W221DX in Gainesville, Fla.; and WMOP-AM 900 in Ocala, Fla.; from Florida SportsTalk LLC.
The deal is valued at $260,000; a $25,000 escrow deposit was held by Hadden & Associates.
Enter UOBN Broadcasting Network, which in February 2021 filed an Application for Review with the FCC. Why? It wanted the Commission to reconsider an informal objection to the license assignment filed a month earlier.
UOBN made the filing as it is mired in a contractual dispute with Florida SportsTalk concerning a Leased Management Agreement it had prior to the sale of the stations. As UOBN explained, the LMA agreement included an option to purchase the properties. That option didn’t come, with the Hitmaker asset purchase agreement’s signing. Furthermore, UOBN is accusing Florida SportsTalk of racial discrimination.
Florida SportsTalk has a slightly different take on the facts. It asserted that although the parties had exchanged proposals concerning a possible LMA and sale of the Stations, there was no executed contract between SportsTalk and UOBN. SportsTalk went on to explain that its decision to sell the stations to Hitmaker was a business decision based on financial need and that UOBN failed to pursue discussions about entering into an agreement to broker and acquire the stations.
A Staff Letter, which UOBN calls “erroneous,” was then sent to the parties in which UOBN’s claims of racial discrimination were considered to be “unsupported,” and that UOBN “failed to provide sufficient justification to deny or defer consideration of the assignment application.”
UOBN wasn’t satisfied with that conclusion, and continued to appeal. SportsTalk continued to deny that it had any contractual obligation to UOBN, and reiterated its assertion that the current matter involves a private contractual dispute and that “the correct forum is a local court in the venue with jurisdiction to resolve local issues on contractual matters, not the FCC.”
The Commission agrees, adding that new arguments presented by UOBN in its most recent appeal should be procedurally barred.
