The value of TV stations sold in the third quarter nearly tripled to $297.4 million, according to data gathered by Kagan.
Kagan, a media research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence, found 32 deals involving TV stations, with 23 full power and 23 lower stations changing hands.
A year ago, in the third quarter, there were 21 deals made, with 11 full power and 55 low power stations being bought for a total of $100.1 million.
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To a large extent the deal volume was driven by spinoffs necessitated by the combination of Gray Television and Raycom Media.
Gray and Raycom had overlaps in nine markets.
In August, nine Gray DTV stations were sold to four different buyers for a total of $235.5 million, or 7.9x cash flow. Tegna bought two stations for $105 million, Lockwood Broadcast Group acquired four stations for $67 million and E.W. Scripps paid $55 million for two stations plus one Class-A station.
Kagan also said it revised its figures for TV deal volume in the second quarter to $3.55 billion after Sinclair Broadcast Group’s acquisition of Tribune Media was canceled, making several spinoff deals unnecessary.
