Southcomm in M&A talks

Nashville-based Southcomm Communications, a portfolio company of venture-capital firm Solidus Co., is in talks with Sam Hatcher's Main Street Media LLC, based in Lebanon, Tenn. While Southcomm CEO Chris Ferrell did not respond to a VentureNashville.com query in the matter, Hatcher's attorney, Charles Bone, told VNC this morning "there have been a lot of conversations and those conversations continue as late as last week..." Bone said Hatcher is continuing to explore what might make sense in a relationship with Southcomm. Main Street owns six newspapers and three magazines in Middle Tennessee, as well as several monthly publications in Florida. Southcomm owns The City Paper, Nashville Scene, NashvillePost.com, Music Row, nFocus, Her, LEO (Louisville), Medical News (several regions), and sponsored-media publisher Southcomm Publishing and closely allied Target Marketing.

Byrd fingers TNInvestco

Given that Solidus-owned Southcomm's PostPolitics blog via NashvillePost.com is one of the most frequent re-posters of Mike Byrd's Enclave blogposts, we might as well save A.C. Kleinheider the trouble: Byrd's opinion on how TNInvestco supposedly inappropriately pleasures VC Solidus, which owns Southcomm, et al, is linked here. Apart from Byrd's avowed concern about the media consolidation represented in holding-company Southcomm, the burr here seems to be as much about the evergreen topic of economic-development incentives for current and future Tennessee businesses, as it is the issue of media ownership and-or ethical conflicts Byrd imagines flowing from Southcomm media coverage of TNInvestco. Related: NashvilleScene columnist Bruce Barry offers two pieces relevant here: pieces 1 and 2.

SearchViz: O'Connell

Freddie O'Connell, who at just 32 has to be considered a digital communications pioneer in Nashville, is going back out on his own, launching SearchViz. Here's our story.

MyOutdoorTV CEO is Del Favero

Albie Del Favero (at left), formerly an executive with Southcomm Communications, with primary responsibility for BusinessTN and The City Paper, has been named CEO of MyOutdoorTV.com Corp., based in Franklin. Earlier, DelFavero was publisher of the Nashville Scene weekly newspaper. Related earlier story, here.