Intelligence Briefs

Two things are clear when looking at the 2014 US Senate election map: Democrats have their work cut out for them; but at the same time, there aren’t all that many hot contests a year out from Election Day.

Triggering an industry paradigm shift is not a task for the faint of heart, at least, that's been my experience. Over the last decade, I have engineered an infrastructure for the brave new world of voice procurement online, with all roads and search queries leading to Voices.com. From my vantage point, I see infinite possibilities on the horizon to serve using spoken word recordings to share important messages via radio and television and to communicate stories that change lives.

The sale of a normal business, say a convenience store, is straight-forward. The buyer pays up, signs all the necessary documents and moves in. But a broadcast transaction must await FCC approval, which usually takes about 90 days or more during which the station must be kept in good operating order. Communications contract expert John Pelkey explains the four key considerations for the seller during this time of limbo.

It’s can be great when a broadcast group is “all in the family,” but it can be devastating in surprising ways when the group is sold out of the family. Edward J. Kopf and Erwin Krasnow combine their expertise to dissect this seldom-considered but very important topic.

The Federal Communications Commission—whose transactions and meetings are covered regularly by Radio and Television Business Report and other industry publications

Revolt TV’s entré into music television made a big splash, but P. Diddy – a cultural curator of our generation – must understand how to attract Millennials and keep their attention or risk becoming inconsequential with the likes of Fuse TV and MTV2. Revolt TV’s timing couldn’t be better. We are at the pinnacle of where social media, technology and music intersect. Millennials are excited about “emerging artists” and getting the latest news on their favorite artist or band. They are listening and watching on a range of digital devices. They love to let other people know who they are listening to and have dozens of channels to disseminate that information. This trifecta of activation gives Diddy an amazing starting-point for his channel. But just throwing a channel up on the dial and putting Diddy’s name behind it isn’t enough.

Multiples are a favorite station-trading statistic, but according to veteran broker/broadcaster George Reed, they are often an eye-of-the-beholder stat where different results can be cited for the same exact transaction. In fact, Reed says it is best to have the salt shaker handy before embarking on a discussion of multiples. Here’s his handy guide to sorting everything out:

Broadcast transactions can in some ways conform to the tried-and-true good news, bad news joke format, and then some. For example, the bad news is that time expires between signing an agreement and getting approval for it. The good news is that it allows for the resolution of certain problems. But the bad news is on many occasions, the extra time is needed. Communications transaction expert John Pelkey explains, with a focus on the often slippery aspects of the real estate portion of a deal.

It comes as no surprise to those of us who transact business in the spot television arena that local audience

Many people in the market to sell or buy a broadcast station make use of the expert services of a media broker. Their special knowledge can be extremely beneficial to the client who contracts for their services. Communications transaction expert Erwin Krasnow takes an in-depth look at just what a contract with a broker should contain.

There is a tectonic shift undermining the very foundation of broadcast radio. Multiple metrics make it clear that serious threats imposed on the FM/AM platform by new online competitors are escalating exponentially. For more than 25 years I’ve helped build audiences for some of the radio industry’s most successful brands. But today, as online competitors like Pandora, iTunes Radio and Spotify add fuel to their astonishing rise, it’s questionable whether the strategies broadcasters have chosen can foster healthy growth.

The old cliché is that it’s the waiting that’s hardest, but some waiting periods can be harder than others, such as the time between the FCC grant of a broadcast transaction and the FCC final order. In particular, it can be excruciatingly difficult if something major goes wrong with the station. Broadcast transaction expert John Pelkey guides us through the ins and outs of this difficult question.

The indemnification portion of a broadcast transaction contract may well be a low point in what can be a boring document. However, its ultimate importance cannot be understated if problems come up that require one party or the other to spend more money. Communications transaction expert Erwin Krasnow walks us through the indemnification process. It is must reading for prospective buyers and sellers of broadcast stations.