Once upon a time, back in 2007, Equity Media Holdings was planning to buy WBQM-LD in New York, along with another low power television outlet – but that was before it fell on to hard times itself and went out of business. Now Channel 50 WBQM is on its way to a new buyer by itself.
The seller, once again, is Craig L. Fox’s Renard NY Broadcasting.
This time, the buyer is Buenavision TV Network NY LLC, headed by Carlos Barba.
The price is $2M cash.
Renard sold the other station, WMBQ-CA, last summer to Prime Time Partners LLC for $5.25M – meaning that it has come close to matching the price it commanded for the two as a pair in the earlier 2007 deal before the sour economy laid broadcast transaction pricing models to waste.
Broadcast analyst David Schutz of Hoffman Schutz Media Capital noted the inherent value of a low power in large ethnically-diverse markets, with New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco at the top of his list. Such a population provides a basis for a niche television operation that allows a low power facility the possibility of surviving without being able to force MVPD carriage.
