Connoisseur Media is asking the FCC to approve up to 100% indirect foreign ownership of its broadcast radio licenses in a structure that would place majority equity in the hands of Cayman Islands-registered entities while CEO Jeff Warshaw retains full voting control.
The petition, filed on Friday, May 8, arrives as foreign ownership questions have drawn renewed scrutiny at the FCC. Revisions to the Commission’s rules go into effect today.
As it stands, Connoisseur Media Holdco’s foreign ownership currently sits at 20.37% equity and 0% voting interest, both below the 25% threshold set by the Communications Act, but two pending transactions would push those figures above the ceiling.
The first involves Falcon Strategic Partners V converting existing debt in Connoisseur Cos to equity, raising its stake from 29% to 47.5%; two of Falcon’s members are organized under Cayman Islands law. The second involves warrants issued to former Alpha Media executives and investors as part of Connoisseur’s 2025 acquisition; exercise of those warrants could increase non-U.S. equity in CM Parent from 4.49% to 8.57%.
Together or separately, the transactions would put aggregate indirect foreign equity in CM Holdco between 30.5% and 34.38%.
CM Holdco also seeks specific approval for three named foreign parties: two Cayman Islands-organized Falcon entities holding between 5.5% and 6.9% equity each, and UK citizen Oliver G. Price, who would hold no equity but carry 100% deemed voting interest in CM Parent under FCC attribution rules. As stated, Warshaw keeps complete actual voting control.
Connoisseur’s petition argues that greater foreign equity access would fund local content and digital capabilities, and notes that the Cayman Islands and United Kingdom entities involved are allied investors with reciprocal trade ties to the US. The petition also points to the FCC’s prior approval of up to 100% foreign ownership for Alpha Media’s stations before Connoisseur acquired them, under an arrangement involving investors from the same two jurisdictions.
The Department of Justice, reviewing on behalf of the interagency Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in US Telecommunications Services, advised the FCC on April 16 that a formal national security referral is unnecessary.
The filing comes as Warshaw is separately engaged in litigation against Soros Fund Management over an alleged verbal agreement tied to SFM’s acquisition of Audacy’s debt. That case, filed in Connecticut, is on track for a projected 2027 jury trial.
