It certainly wasn’t December – the number of stations bought and sold dropped and total deal value evaporated significantly. But which of the other months was bigger, October and November? It depends.
It depends on how one decides to treat a transaction filed late in November.
That would be a refile of Quincy Newspapers’ acquisition of five Granite Broadcasting television stations. It was filed earlier in the year, but was resubmitted to deal with consolidation issues that were slowing the approval process at the FCC.
Count it and Novembers total deal value soars by $190,000,000 and makes it the month to beat in Q4 2014.
Ignore it, and October wins in a walk.
We went ahead and added it in. Just be aware that this was an editorial decision.
Radio led the way in October in terms of value, and TV took November with or without the Quincy deal – Nexstar’s $145,000,000 acquisition of KLAS-TV assured that result.
Radio owned December as television dealing essentially fell off the earth.
In all, trading totaled $880,819,228. Seller paper was not that big of a factor, accounting for just under $6,000,000.
Here are the month-by-month dealing stats for Q4.
| 2014 Q4 | Radio | Radio/TV | TV | Total |
| October | $257,465,750 | $2,900,000 | $83,851,000 | $344,216,750 |
| November | $54,875,919 | $0 | $341,784,500 | $396,660,419 |
| December | $139,842,059 | $0 | $100,000 | $139,942,059 |
| Total | $452,183,728 | $2,900,000 | $425,735,500 | $880,819,228 |
| Source: RBR-TVBR, FCC | ||||
There were 168 total transactions filed with the FCC during the quarter. Only 18 of these involved stations in two or more markets, but those were the deals that accounted for the lion’s share of the value. Prominent among them were the Entercom/Lincoln and the CBS/Beasley deals.
Here’s how the trading broke down.
| 2014 Q4 | ||||
| Deal type | Deals | Stns | Value | Pnote |
| Radio 1 mkt | 98 | 139 | $13,135,329 | $4,796,000 |
| Radio multi-mkt | 12 | 83 | $349,048,399 | $1,136,399 |
| Radio no value | 10 | 15 | $0 | $0 |
| Radio total | 120 | 237 | $452,183,728 | $5,932,399 |
| Radio-TV multi | 1 | 5 | $2,900,000 | $0 |
| TV 1 mkt | 39 | 66 | $235,405,000 | $50,000 |
| TV multi mkt | 6 | 59 | $190,330,500 | $0 |
| TV no value | 2 | 10 | $0 | $0 |
| TV total | 47 | 135 | $425,735,500 | $50,000 |
| Total | 168 | 377 | $880,819,228 | $5,982,399 |
| Source: RBR-TVBR, FCC | ||||
October was the biggest month in terms of stations moved, and December the smallest. FMs were the most frequently sold station type, and the acquisitive policies of DTV America Corporation inflated the number of LPTV CPs sold, usually for $4K or $5K a pop.
Here’s a look at sales by station type.
| 2014 Q4 | AM | FM | FMCP | LPFM | TV | LPTV | LPT-CP | Total |
| October | 23 | 67 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 47 | 152 |
| November | 25 | 49 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 42 | 131 |
| December | 24 | 50 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 94 |
| Total | 72 | 166 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 25 | 93 | 377 |
| Source: RBR-TVBR, FCC | ||||||||
There was a fair amount of trading activity in America’s large markets, but most of the action was in rated markets ranked 101 or smaller or in unrated territory. The latter was the largest category on the radio side.
Here’s how trading broke down by station type and market size.
| Q4 2014 Trading by Station Type/Market Size | |||||
| Station | 1-50 | 51-100 | 101-smlr | Out | Total |
| AM | 26 | 7 | 12 | 28 | 72 |
| FM | 37 | 15 | 51 | 63 | 166 |
| FMCP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| LPFM | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Rad total | 64 | 22 | 63 | 92 | 241 |
| TV | 5 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 18 |
| LPTV | 12 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 25 |
| LPTV CP | 0 | 0 | 88 | 5 | 93 |
| TV total | 17 | 6 | 107 | 6 | 136 |
| Total | 81 | 28 | 170 | 98 | 377 |
| Source: FCC, RBR-TVBR | |||||
Here are the quarter’s top deals:
$190,000,000 Refile of acquisition of five Granite Broadcasting television stations by Quincy Newspapers resolving consolidation issues presented by the original version of the deal.
$145,000,000 KLAS-TV Las Vegas from Landmark Media Enterprises to Nexstar Broadcasting. Broker: Moelis & Company (seller)
$105,000,000. Four AMs and 11 FMs in Denver, Atlanta, San Diego and Miami from Lincoln Financial Media to Entercom. Entercom placed one of the Denver FMs into trust with Media Venture Partners broker Elliot Evers to stay within the local cap and to seek a buyer.
$100,000,000: Stations in Charlotte, Tampa and Philadelphia from CBS to Beasley. Swap. Price is an estimate. Broker: Michael Bergner
$100,000,000: Stations in Philadelphia and Miami from Beasley to CBS. Swap. Price is an estimate. Broker: Michael Bergner
$68,000,000 KASW-TV Phoenix from Sagamorehill/Meredith to Nexstar Broadcasting. Broker: Moelis & Company
$13,750,000: Five stations in Shreveport LA and four in Longview-Tyler, only one of which is an AM, from Access.1 to Alpha Media. Broker: Media Service Group (seller)
$12,950,000 WQEW-AM New York City from Radio Disney to Family Stations. Broker: William B. Schutz (seller)
$12,500,000 WSNR-AM New York City (Jersey City NJ) from Blackstrap Broadcasting to Davidzon Radio
$10,350,000 FMs in Columbia SC, Charlotte NC and Boiling Springs NC from Columbia Bible College Broadcasting Company to Educational Media Foundation. Broker: Mark Jorgenson, Jorgenson Broadcast Brokerage
$10,000,000 KBCB-TV Seattle (Bellingham WA) from World Television to Fox Television Stations. Broker: CobbCorp. (seller)
$8,000,000 16 radio stations in unrated Minnesota markets from BL Broadcasting to Hubbard Broadcasting. Broker: Larry Patrick and Susan Patrick of Patrick Communications
$6,600,000 Three radio stations in Fresno CA from Wilks Broadcast to One Putt Broadcasting.
$5,800,000 Radio stations in Bakersfield and Merced from Buckley to Alpha Media. Broker: Richard A. Foreman Associates (seller)
$3,700,000 WSOS-FM/WMUV-FM serving Jacksonville FL from Renda Broadcasting to Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting. Broker: Media Services Group (seller)
$3,500,000 Six radio stations in northwest Iowa from NRG License Sub to Riverfront Broadcasting
$3,500,000 Three South Bend IN FMs from Artistic Media Partners to Sound Management LLC in an internal stake deal. Broker: Michael Bergner
$3,500,000 KCWI-TV Des Moines IA from Pappas Liquidation trust to Nexstar Broadcasting. Broker: Kalil & Company worked on behalf of the Trustee
$3,500,000 W292DV New York NY. The biggest deal of the week is for an FM translator, providing legs to the old adage “location, location, location.” Apple 107.1 is selling to John Bridge’s Big Apple Broadcasting.
$3,250,000: WJKS-FM Canton NJ and WFAI-AM Salem NJ from QC Communications to Delmarva Broadcasting Company. The combo serves the Wilmington DE market. Broker: Patrick Communications (seller).
$3,200,000 KSBI-TV Oklahoma City from Family Broadcast Group Inc. to Griffin Communications. Broker: John Tupper (seller)
$3,200,000 KMIC-AM Houston from Radio Disney to DAIJ Media. Broker: Brokers: William B. Schutz (seller); John W. Saunders (buyer).
$3,138,000 WLCL-FM Louisville KY from Cumulus to Union Broadcasting. Broker: Spectrum Media LLC (seller)
$3,000,000 Three radio stations in Martinsburg WV from Prettyman Broadcasting to West Virginia Radio Corporation
$3,000,000 WFDF-AM Detroit from Radio Disney to Church of the Word. Brokers: William B. Schutz (seller), Patrick Communications (buyer)
$2,900,000 Four FMs and one LPTV in Sacramento and Modesto CA from Adelante Media to Lazer Broadcasting
$2,500,000 WZXZ-CA Orlando FL from L4 Media Group to OTA Broadcasting. Price is an estimate, buyer is paying by population coverage which is to be determined. Broker: Media Venture Partners (buyer)
$2,450,000 Three radio stations in the Sherman TX-Ada OK area from Texoma Broadcasting to Mid-Continent Broadcasting
$2,200,000 KBRA-FM Northwest Arkansas (Bella Vista) from Hendren Communications to La Zeta 95.7 Inc..
