We looked at six weeks of broadcast transactions filed with the FCC going back to 10/4/10 and ending with 11/12/10. While the overall station trading picture is anything but robust, two of these weeks featured activity that at least would have fit in as a relatively slow week in a relatively good trading year.
The best week in terms of volume encompassed 11/18-22. The action was still mostly for singletons – the top two deals were for three and two FMs respectively – but there were 22 separate filings, far and away the most we saw during the period in question and likely a contender for the busiest week of 2010 in terms of pure trading volume.
In all, 25 stations changed hands – nine AMs and 16 FMs – for a total cash value of about $11.421M.
But the best week was the first week of November, 11/1-5. There were only 13 deals filed at the FCC that week, and again most were singletons, but the top five all were valued at $1.5M or better, capping at the $10M commanded by the deal for KLVS-FM Stockton CA.
The total value traded was $27.72M – nothing to write home about in home about in a normal year, but a great week in the 2010 environment. The total was based on the sale of eight AMs and seven FMs.
The other four weeks were more illustrative of what 2010 has been – low volume, a lot of CPs being exchanged, mixed with the occasional deal that gets into million dollar territory. Here’s the rundown, in order of value:
11/8-12: 10 deals, for an AM, five FMs and a TV (WQEX in Pittsburgh, the only TV in this study) came home at $4.362M, with $3M going for the TV station. There was also a stock transfer for a television station filed this week that was primarily a debt assumption deal.
10/11-15: Only three deals, involving two AMs and two FMs, but one clocked in at just under $2M for a $2.375M grand total.
10/25-29: Five singleton deals moved two AMs and three FMs for $1.353M.
10/4-8: Talk about invisible: Only five deals were filed, accounting for two AMs and four FMs, for a total value that would look much more in place in a report on residential retail results: $319.5K.
