William Eccleshare Named Chief Executive Officer of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. CCO today announced that William Eccleshare, currently Chief Executive Officer of the company's International division, will become Chief Executive Officer of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings effective immediately.

Eccleshare will oversee the two divisions of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Clear Channel Outdoor Americas and Clear Channel International, positioning the company to use all its assets on a coordinated global basis, leveraging its full scale, relationships and best practices to provide the most innovative and responsive advertising and marketing programs for its clients. In addition, Eccleshare will work with advertisers to develop new marketing strategies using Clear Channel's groundbreaking new Digital Networks across the world. In this new role, Eccleshare will replace the interim Office of the CEO currently in place for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings.

Eccleshare was previously CEO of Clear Channel International, a position he has held since 2009. Prior to joining Clear Channel, he served in leadership roles at a number of major advertising agencies, including as Chairman and CEO at BBDO EMEA; Chairman of Young and Rubicam/Wunderman EMEA; Chairman and CEO of Ammirati Puris Lintas for Northern Europe; Global Strategic Planning Director of J. Walter Thompson Worldwide; and CEO, PPGH/JWT Amsterdam. He has also been a Partner and Leader of the Marketing Practice at McKinsey & Co. Eccleshare will be based in the U.K. for an interim period and will later relocate to New York City.

“William's experience is the perfect match for the priorities of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings today,” said Bob Pittman, Executive Chairman of the Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. Board of Directors, and CEO of CC Media Holdings, Inc. “His success in building Clear Channel International and taking it to new levels of success, coupled with his experience developing strong relationships with both clients and agencies and his extensive advertising agency background, means that Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings will be able to serve partners with our full range of assets, including digital; learn from experiences in all areas of the world where we operate; and tap the company's talent around the globe – enabling us to reinvent how we do business with all of our advertising and marketing partners.”

“I'm truly excited to take on this new role, and to bring to bear both my experience in out-of-home and my long understanding of the needs of advertising agencies and their clients – and how to meet them,” said Eccleshare. “I have seen first-hand the tremendous opportunities available to us in the outdoor marketplace and the value we generate by developing and sharing our expertise. I am looking forward to working with the Clear Channel teams across more than 40 markets across the globe to accelerate our momentum.”

Separately, the company also announced that Ron Cooper, CEO of the company's Americas division, will be leaving the company after assisting with Mr. Eccleshare's transition.

Pittman said, “I also want to thank Ron Cooper for his leadership at our Americas division over the last two years. We truly appreciate the contributions he has made, and wish him all the best for the future.”

Company Fourth Quarter Update

The company also said that momentum of its Outdoor business continued in 2011 even facing a challenging advertising market. Revenues for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. increased 7.4% and 2.9%, for the full year 2011 and fourth quarter 2011, respectively; excluding the impact of movements in foreign exchange rates, revenues rose 4.2% and 2.4% for the full year 2011 and fourth quarter 2011, respectively. The company will be reporting its full financial results on February 21, 2012.

Pittman added, “William successfully grew our International revenue over the last two years as CEO of CCI, and is uniquely qualified to lead our consolidated outdoor business.”

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. is a global leader in the outdoor advertising industry providing clients with advertising opportunities through billboards, street furniture displays, transit displays, and other out-of-home advertising displays. It is one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies, reaching over 141 million adults each month in the United States and an additional 374 million internationally, with close to one million displays in over 40 countries across five continents, including 49 of the 50 largest markets in the United States. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. offers many types of displays across its global platform to meet the advertising needs of its customers. This includes a growing digital platform that now offers over 750 digital displays across 37 U.S. markets. Clear Channel International operates in 30 countries across Asia, Australia and Europe in a wide variety of formats and operates over 3,500 municipal advertising contracts worldwide.

CC Media Holdings, Inc.

CC Media Holdings, Inc. CCMO is one of the leading global media and entertainment companies specializing in radio, digital, out of home, mobile and on-demand entertainment and information services for local communities and providing premier opportunities for advertisers.

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, led by John Hogan, is the leading media business in America reaching 238 million people each month with its radio properties – a greater reach in the U.S. than any radio or television company – and serves 150 cities through 850 owned radio stations. It also includes Clear Channel Digital, which develops and operates iHeartRadio, the free, industry-leading digital radio product that combines access to all of the company's live broadcast and digital-only radio stations with user-created Custom Stations, and develops the companion digital products for each radio station brand; Premiere Networks, which syndicates 90 radio programs and services to more than 5,000 radio station affiliates; Total Traffic Network, a ground-breaking programming and technology service delivering real-time traffic data directly to vehicles and radio stations, in more than 100 metropolitan markets in four countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand; and Katz Media Group, which is the largest media representation firm in the U.S. representing more than 2,600 radio stations and 400 television stations.

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