In the absence of hundred-million-dollar deals, Q4’s TV deal volume of $105.5 million stands for only 2.3% of 2021’s total TV deal volume, but radio’s $102.7 million represent 54.2% of the year’s radio deal volume.
Three of the year’s top-four radio deals were announced in December, giving rise to a slightly more optimistic outlook for 2022. In two transactions, The Walt Disney Company received a total of $24.25 million for its remaining radio stations. VCY America, Inc. is going to pay $9.25 million for KESN-FM in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market and Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC will pay $15.0 million for Disney’s AM stations in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and for an LMA for WEPN-FM, owned by Emmis Communications.
Also in December, Univision Communications Inc. announced the spin-off of WQBU-FM in New York’s Nassau-Suffolk market to Family Stations, Inc. for $9.0 million.
Top-Radio Station Sales Q4, 2021
| Deal Announcement Date (mm/dd/yyyy) | Buyer | Seller | Transaction Value ($ mil.) |
Full Power Stns |
Low Power Stns |
Construction Permits |
| 12/20/2021 | Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC | The Walt Disney Company | 15.00 | 3 | ||
| 12/21/2021 | VCY America, Inc. | The Walt Disney Company | 9.25 | 1 | ||
| 12/3/2021 | Family Stations, Inc. | Univision Communications Inc. | 9.00 | 1 | 2 | |
| 12/21/2021 | Private investor - Katrina Ostlund | Private investor - Christopher Pacheco | 1.40 | 3 | ||
| 10/19/2021 | Buzzards Media, LLC | Hayco Broadcasting, Inc. | 1.30 | 2 | 1 | |
| 11/18/2021 | Educational Media Foundation | Tuscarawas Broadcasting Company | 0.85 | 1 | ||
| 12/21/2021 | Augusta Radio Fellowship Institute, Inc. | Private Investor - Grady W. Tuner | 0.80 | 1 | ||
| 12/29/2021 | MARC Radio Group, LLC | MBC of Texas-KGGR, Inc. | 0.65 | 1 | 1 | |
| 12/16/2021 | Truth Broadcasting Corporation | Crescent Media Group, LLC | 0.63 | 1 | 1 | |
| 12/8/2021 | Salem Media Group, Inc. | Immaculate Heart Media, Inc. | 0.60 | 1 | 1 |
Largest TV deal of the quarter was Weigel Broadcasting Co.’s purchase of PMCM TV, LLC’s New York station WJLP (coming with a low power translator) filed with the FCC in October for $62.5 million.
Weigel’s acquisition was only the fifth largest deal of the year, but it was the largest one that did not involve Gray Television, Inc. as buyer or seller.
There was just one other large TV deal, in which Allen Media Holdings II, LLC paid $28.5 million to Woods Communications Corporation for two DTV stations and one translator in Alabama’s Montgomery-Selma market.
Top TV Station Sales Q4, 2021
| Deal Announcement Date (mm/dd/yyyy) | Buyer | Seller | Transaction Value ($ mil.) |
Full Power Stns |
Class-A TV |
Low Power Stns |
Construction Permits |
| 10/8/2021 | Weigel Broadcasting Co. | PMCM TV, LLC | 62.50 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 12/28/2021 | Allen Media Holdings II, LLC | Woods Communications Corporation | 28.50 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 11/12/2021 | Sovryn Holdings, Inc. | Prism Broadcasting Network Inc. | 5.25 | 1 | |||
| 11/30/2021 | Major Market Broadcasting of New York Inc. | Venture Technologies Group, LLC | 1.70 | 1 | |||
| 12/20/2021 | Gray Television, Inc. | Lowcountry 34 Media, LLC | 1.17 | 5 | 1 | ||
| 12/10/2021 | Sovryn Holdings, Inc. | Word of God Fellowship, Inc., d/b/a Daystar Television Network | 1.05 | 1 | |||
| 12/10/2021 | Christian Television Corporation, Inc. | Citrus County Association for Retarded Citizens, Inc. | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 10/25/2021 | Gray Television, Inc. | 5GTV, LLC | 0.50 | 1 | |||
| 10/13/2021 | Gray Television, Inc. | Legacy Broadcasting of Rapid City, LLC | 0.50 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 12/27/2021 | Radiant Life Ministries, Inc. | Lowcountry 34 Media, LLC | 0.50 | 1 |
Large acquisitions and sales carried out by Gray Television Inc. dominated the TV deal market in 2021. Without Gray's activities, the 2021 TV deal volume would have been $319.7 million, and almost one-third of that took place in the last quarter of the year.