MONTEREY, Calif., Jan. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Announced today by SNL Kagan, a division within S&P Capital IQ and SNL, broadcast station mergers & acquisitions (M&A) volume reached $486.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. Radio reached $160.4 million while TV registered deals worth $326.4 million. The SNL Kagan report finds that the total is low compared to the more than $3 billion of the previous quarter, but it is still more than the deal volume of the first half of the year.

Highlights from the SNL Kagan report: 


    --  There were no billion-dollar deals in the fourth quarter (Q4) and only
        one transaction of more than $100 million, but with 37 transactions of
        $1 million or more, Q4 delivered a similarly solid number of
        million-dollar deals as the previous quarter (38 deals over $1 million).
    --  The TV market ended the year with an average 8.4x forward seller's
        multiple (0.1 point higher than at the end of Q3). The radio cash flow
        (c.f.) multiple remained unchanged at 6.7x.
    --  The top TV deal and the only hundred-million-dollar deal of the quarter
        was Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc.'s $130 million/8.4x c.f. acquisition
        of the CBS outlets in the West Virginia markets of
        Charleston-Huntington, Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill and Wheeling, as well
        as the NBC affiliate in Clarksburg, W.Va., from West Virginia Media
        Holdings.
    --  In a twist to the usual spectrum aggregator model, LocusPoint Networks
        LLC  sold three of its stations -- WMJF-CD in Baltimore, W33BY in
        Detroit and WBNF-CD in Buffalo, N.Y. -- to HME Equity Fund II LLC for
        $23.75 million. LocusPoint and its backers Blackstone Group had acquired
        the stations in 2012-2014 for a total of $4.83 million and may have
        wanted to earn a return on some of the capital invested to date, and/or
        concentrate on a smaller number of high-demand markets.
    --  The top news in the radio sector was the second-largest radio deal of
        the year, Wilks Broadcast Group LLC's $54.0 million/8.1x c.f. sale of
        its three-station cluster in the Denver market to sports and real estate
        mogul Stan Kroenke's Kroenke Sports & Entertainment LLC. Wilks, who is
        exiting the radio business, also found buyers for its Columbus, Ohio,
        stations. The company sold WLVQ to Saga Communications Inc. for $13.0
        million/7.4x while Radio One Inc. purchased WHOK and WZOH for $2.0
        million.

About SNL Kagan
SNL Kagan, a division of S&P Capital IQ and SNL, is a comprehensive resource for financial intelligence in the media and communications sector, including the broadcasting, cable, entertainment, motion picture, telecom, wireless, satellite, publishing, new-media industries and media technologies. The SNL Kagan suite of products integrates breaking news, comprehensive data and expert analysis into an electronic database available online and updated around the clock. For more information, visit www.snlkagan.com.

About S&P Capital IQ and SNL
 S&P Capital IQ and SNL Financial, a business unit of McGraw Hill Financial (NYSE:MHFI), is a leading provider of financial and industry data, research, news and analytics to investment professionals, government agencies, corporations, and universities worldwide. The newly combined firm integrates news, comprehensive market and sector-specific data and analytics into a variety of tools to help track performance, generate alpha, identify investment ideas, understand competitive and industry dynamics, perform valuation and assess credit risk.
For more information, visit www.spcapitaliq.com or www.snl.com.

Copyright © 2015 by S&P Capital IQ. All rights reserved. The information contained in this Press Release and any referenced reports are for information purposes only. S&P Capital IQ Parties assume no obligation to update the information contained herein or in any referenced reports ("Content") following publication in any form or format. The Content is provided on an "as is" basis.

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SOURCE S&P Capital IQ and SNL; SNL Kagan