Value of Station Deals Drops Off

The FCC review of ownership rules seems to be having an impact on station deals.
Radio station transactions are taking place at a comparable pace to last year, although their value is down. According to BIA Financial Network Inc., 411 transactions were announced through the end of July, totaling $1.3 billion in value. That compared with 442 for the same time period in 2002, totaling $4.4 billion.
Vice President Mark Fratrik pointed to the FCC rule review and freeze of transfer applications.
“We expected the number of transactions to dramatically increase after the issuance of the FCC’s changes in the ownership rules, and the removal of the freeze,” he said in the announcement. “However, given the recent stay on these rules and the resulting uncertainty, we anticipate that the second half of 2003 will not yield a large number of transactions in the last two quarters of 2002.”