TV Station Sales Doubled in 2013

CHANTILLY, VA.—Nearly 300 TV stations were sold in 2013, according to BIA/Kelsey’s software set. That number of transactions is up 205 percent from 2012. Likewise, the total 2013 sale valuation for television stations was up 367 percent from the previous year to over $8 billion.

BIA/Kelsey said “strong political advertising revenues from the previous year, retransmission consent revenues and continued historically lower interest rates were all contributing factors to this strong showing in the television station acquisition market.”

The largest transaction of the year were the 11 stations bought by the Tribune Co. in June for $2.7 billion.

“This year we expect the transactions to slow down slightly from the incredible amount of activity last year,” said Mark Fratrik, vice president of BIA/Kelsey.