Another Television Station Deal

As part of the restructuring of Multicultural Broadcasting's television group they've put four of their six stations up for sale. Those stations include KCNS in San Francisco, WMFP in Boston, WOAC in Cleveland, and WRAY in Raleigh. Multicultural also owns WSAH in the New York City market and KHIZ in the Los Angeles market and is said to be retaining those two stations.

The agreement for the transfer of the first station to a new buyer has been filed with the FCC. The station is WOAC in Cleveland and the new buyer is Radiant Life Ministries. Previously Multicultural Broadcasting bought the channel as part of a five station deal from Scripps for $170 million. On a per household basis this breaks down to $11.39 per household and puts WOAC at $17 million. The asset purchase agreement has Radiant Life buying the station for $7 million or $4.59 per household. This is an incredible deal for a full-power television station in a large (DMA #17) market.

Equity Media Goes Up for Bids

One of the largest broadcast groups, Equity Media Holdings, concluded the first part of their liquidation on April 16, 2009 as part of their bankruptcy filing. According to press reports nearly 60 stations received bids with the total being slightly over $21 million for those stations. The biggest buyer was Daystar who bid $7.4 million to acquire seven full-power television stations and eight low-power and Class A stations. Max Media grabbed three full-power Fox stations in Montana including KMMF in Missoula, KBTZ in Butte and KLMN in Great Falls as well as three low-power stations for $1.3 million. Previously Max Media had a deal with Equity Media in early 2005 to acquire those same exact stations for $4.25 million. Another bidder, Valley Bank bid over $7 million to buy three stations including KQCK in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Better Life Television bid $975,000 to acquire full-power KTVC in Roseburg, Oregon and low-power station KAMK-LP in Eugene Oregon.

Overall it appears that the buyers got great prices for these stations. The low prices are likely the result of the inability for many potential buyers to obtain financing from banks and investors. Another likely reason for the low prices is that the majority of the Equity stations still need to have digital facilities built which alone could cost hundreds of thousands per station.