Intelligence Briefs

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.

Your broadcast transaction is well struck – the FCC approves and it’s going, going, going – then it is not gone, for reasons unknown. Although the last thing a party committed to the deal wants is for a trading partner to drop dead, the party may well want “drop dead” to be part of the contract. Communications transaction expert John Pelkey explains.

For decades, broadcasters throughout Oklahoma have taken their responsibility to warn and prepare residents

To a certain extent, the art of buying and selling broadcast stations involves the ability to haggle– but according to transaction expert John Pelkey, there is a time for haggling and a time for compromising, and to a large extent, it pivots on the value of the deal, the amount tied to the haggle, and even the associated amount the attorneys stand to collect. Click through for this essential deal-making advice.

During recent broadcast history, not only has it been difficult to procure financing, it has also often been difficult to repay it. In this installment of Deal Tips, transaction experts John Brooks and Erwin Krasnow stress the importance of candor and honesty during hard times, and explain exactly what this entails. This is a must read for anyone who has ever financed an acquisition.

The licensee of a station brokered to a second party is required to maintain two permanent staffers at all times, a critical piece of evidence demonstrating that there has not been a premature transfer of control. But how should these people while away the hours? Communications law expert John Pelkey has some ideas.

The individual on the licensee side of an LMA had best be prepared to get with the program, and by that we mean the FCC’s program of responsibilities that are retained by the licensee despite the fact that certain station operations have been turned over to a second party. As communications law expert John Pelkey explains, that specifically includes the exercise of control over what goes out over the air. Click through for the full story.

An Americana revival is sweeping across the country. While the individual expressions of Americana have increased exponentially over time, this cultural shift shows no signs of slowing down, and is far from reaching its zenith.

A very common element of a modern broadcast station transaction is an arrangement, often called a local marketing agreement or LMA, that allows the buyer to have a hand in the station’s operation prior to FCC approval. There is nothing at all wrong with this, says communications law expert John Pelkey, as long as the parties proceed with caution. And here’s step-by-step advice on what precautions to take.

Everything in radio is geared around the clock. In the micro-sense you have top of the hour legal, traffic and weather on the eights, and tickets on the twos. Portable people meter (PPM) based ratings have made these time specific “appointment listening” opportunities more important.

The TV viewing experience has undergone significant changes in the past three years—what I would call a TV revolution, not an evolution. From the advent of smartphones and tablets, to increases in broadband speeds, 3G and 4G wireless networks, and cloud infrastructures, emerging mobile technologies have led to an explosion in over-the-top (OTT) services and Internet protocol television (IPTV) that have transformed the TV viewing experience as we know it today.