Top 25 TV Station Groups

The tough economy has brought station sales to a screeching halt, say analysts, and that has kept movement among B&C's annual Top 25 station groups to a minimum.

Here's the current Top 10 by percentage of US population reached: 1) CBS Corp. (35.48%) 2) Ion Media Networks (32.42%), 3) Fox Television Stations (31.20%), 4) NBC Universal GE (30.33%), 5) Tribune Co. (27.55%), 6) ABC TV Stations Group (23.14%), 7) Univision (22.21%), 8) Trinity Broadcasting Network (19.63%), 9) Gannett Broadcasting (17%), and 10) Hearst-Argyle Television (14.95%).

"There's a stalemate," says Bruce Northcott, principal at TV research firm Crawford, Johnson & Northcott. "I don't believe that the traditional evaluation process holds at this stage of the game. We'll learn how it's going to be resolved when the market takes over. Right now, buyers are trying to set the market and sellers are trying to set the market, and neither do. The market sets the market." Would-be station sellers are holding back—unless forced to sell due to crushing debt—because stations are perceived to be undervalued right now, although whether valuations ever come back to former levels of 12-plus times cash flow remains to be seen. Buyers are interested in picking up stations at bargain-basement prices, but are having difficulty finding banks that will lend to them even if they can convince sellers to sell. And everyone is waiting to see if the market has bottomed out.