Intelligence Briefs

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.

Let’s just put it out there with a strong statement: No station should ever be bought unless it has been subjected to a rigorous due diligence process. As communications transaction expert Erwin Krasnow explains, there is a great deal at risk in this type of transaction, and no stone should be left unturned before signing on the dotted line. But Krasnow does much more than that – he explains how. Here is the last of three installments.

We can’t say that you asked for it, but we’ve always sort of had a hankering for a list of how markets are ranked by Arbitron on the one hand, Nielsen on the other hand, and by Eastlan on yet another hand (not to suggest there mutations are widely present in the broadcast nerd community). And yes, we suspect this list will be of particular interest to the nerdiest of broadcast and research professionals. But we think it’s very interesting.

In the wake of the Paula Deen scandal, the question emerges: Will brands learn anything from this debacle? Bill McKeveny, Vice President of Brand Development at Conversation, a New York-based advertising agency, thinks that brands can learn a lesson and change their behavior. “I think some brands will study more carefully what these celebrity personalities are like behind the camera," he said.

Let’s just put it out there with a strong statement: No station should ever be bought unless it has been subjected to a rigorous due diligence process. As communications transaction expert Erwin Krasnow explains, there is a great deal at risk in this type of transaction, and no stone should be left unturned before signing on the dotted line. But Krasnow does much more than that – he explains how in with this comprehensive three-part series.

Whenever I facilitate a brainstorm session for an organization, I follow a rule of having all the participants in the room scribble down every single idea they can think of within the first 5-10 minutes – and then throw them all away.