BIA: TV-Station Revenues Slip in 2007, to Soar in 2008
294 Stations Sold for an Estimated $4.6 Billion in 2007
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/10/2008 6:30:00 AM
TV-station revenues were $22.2 billion in 2007, down $500 million (2%) from $22.7 billion in 2006, according to BIA Financial Network's just-released “Investing in Television Report.”
But the picture looks brighter for 2008, with an estimated average 11% boost -- a 10-year high if the prediction is accurate, BIA said -- led by election spending.
BIA also estimated that there were 294 stations sold for an estimated $4.6 billion in 2007. That number includes both sales that closed and were proposed (no sale is done until the Federal Communications Commission approves it).
The number of station transactions was up from the 202 sold in 2006, but the total dollar volume was only one-quarter of the $18.1 billion in sales in 2006, BIA said. The 2006 figure was largely accounted for by the $12.3 billion sale of Univision Communications to an investor group led by Haim Saban. The top announced sale in 2007 was News Corp.'s proposed $1.1 billion sale of eight TV stations to Oak Hill Capital Partners.
"Despite the constant buzz of new-media alternatives, television will prove itself to be a hot medium in 2008 not only because it's fail-safe, but because it delivers viewers in a very targeted, local way," BIA vice president Mark Fratrik said in announcing the report.
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