BIA: Telecom Act Great!

BIA Financial Network says the ’96 Telecom Act has been great for radio in terms of efficiencies gained from facility consolidation and more ad revenue.
In 2000, station trading increased to 1,749 stations sold for $24 billion. That’s compared to 1995, when 1,259 stations were sold for $5.4 billion.
Due to the increased efficiency resulting from consolidation, radio advertising dollars swelled to $20 billion, for a total market share of 8%, said BIAfn.
BIAfn Vice President Mark Fratrik believes the data shows that deregulation helped the industry. However, he doubts that future acquisitions will be as significant, given the crest of consolidations appears to have passed, though there are still some opportunities for future mergers.