Report: Broadcast Deals Total $189.6M During Q3 2017

U.S. broadcast station mergers and acquisitions volume reached $189.6 million in the third quarter of 2017, according to estimates from Kagan, a media research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence.

This is the lowest quarterly deal volume of the year, but the previous two quarters were skewed by two billion-dollar deals. The volume of Q3 2017 is still higher than Q4 2016 volume ($116.1 million) and that of seven other quarters since 2008.

$123.0 million came from radio deals, with almost 50% attributable to the sector's top deal. In the absence of bigger commercial deals, the largest radio deal of the quarter was announced on September 26 by non-commercial Educational Media Foundation, which agreed to pay $57.75 million ($3.75 per pop) for three FM stations that Entercom Communications had to spin off after its merger with CBS Radio.

Q3's second-largest radio deal was the $19.5 million sale of four AM and fourteen FM radio stations and two FM radio translators from Alpha Media LLC to Dick Broadcasting Company Inc. The stations are located in four small markets in Georgia and the Carolinas.

There were ten other radio transactions between $1.0 million and $7.0 million, with all other radio deals in Q3 worth less than $1.0 million.

In the top TV deal of the quarter, announced on July 21, OTA Broadcasting (PSP) LLC sold its two stations in the Palm Springs, California, market to Entravision Communications Corporation for $21.0 million. We estimate a 7.5x forward seller's multiple, while Entravision reported a buyer's multiple of less than 6.5x.

EVINE Live Inc. sold its TV station WWDP in the Boston market to WRNN-TV Associates Limited Partnership for $10.0 million. EVINE Live also entered into a $3.5 million channel-sharing agreement with WMFP, allowing NRJ TV to operate that station on one-third of WWDP's spectrum.

London Broadcasting sold KTXD in Dallas to Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation, the local marketing agreement partner of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. for $9.5 million and Southern California License LLC sold KAZA in the Los Angeles market to Weigel Broadcasting Co. for $9.0 million. KAZA, which in April sold its spectrum at the Spectrum Incentive Auction, entered a channel-sharing agreement with KHTV-CD, owned by Venture Technologies Group LLC.

All other TV deals in Q3 registered $6 million each or less, bringing the total quarterly TV deal volume to $66.6 million.