Washington, DC - Attorney General Robert J. Spagnoletti announced today that his office has closed its investigation of a plan by radio companies to agree among themselves on what types of programming to offer on new digital channels.

The investigation was launched after the HD Digital Radio Alliance -- whose members include Bonneville International, Citadel Broadcasting, Clear Channel Radio, Emmis Communications, Entercom, Greater Media, and Infinity Broadcasting -- announced in a December 2005 press release that its members had "agreed to coordinate the use of all multicast HD channels to create the greatest diversity of formats. The goal: create new, unique and compelling content within a high-quality listening experience across a broad spectrum of music, news and entertainment programming."

Because the Alliance members' agreement sought to limit the number of new multicast digital channels in any particular broadcast region that offered a particular type of programming - such as country, classical, urban, or easy-listening - the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) opened an antitrust investigation to determine how likely it was that the agreement would have anticompetitive effects.