Update: Sovereign Responds to BMI Objection to UP Radio Sale

Sovereign Communications has responded to BMI’s objection of the sale of six Upper Peninsula radio stations, saying the FCC is not the proper forum for a dispute over hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to BMI.

An attorney for Broadcast Music, Inc. filed the objection against Sovereign’s proposed assignment of six licenses in the Marquette and Iron Mountain markets to AMC Partners Escanaba. Sovereign is also seeking approval to sell two other Marquette stations to a separate buyer, but BMI has not objected to that sale.

In the objection received at the FCC on Feb. 14, BMI’s attorney says Sovereign “has made no arrangements to satisfy its obligations” and submitted copies of two civil court judgments from 2017 and 2019 totalling $339,631.36.

Sovereign responded on Feb. 25, saying BMI’s objection contains no facts to demonstrate that the license transfer would be inconsistent with the public interest. It says the commission routinely refuses to interject itself in such disputes.

“Because the objection is based on matters arising from a private contractual dispute which are improper for consideration in an assignment proceeding, and because BMI has already been heard before the appropriate forum – the courts of Michigan – the Commission should deny the objection,” Sovereign writes.

Besides the stations its selling in Marquette and Iron Mountain, Sovereign also owns seven stations in Sault Ste. Marie and Newberry.