There’s a new RSS feed that you’re going to want in your reader. Diane Mermigas — one of the most prolific and spot-on writers about new media on the planet — has moved her star to MediaPost and is offering a DAILY essay in their publications. Diane’s credentials and contacts are seemingly endless, so her mind resides in the deep end of the pool.

In today’s offering, Diane looks at local media companies and says to watch for increasing activity in the mergers and acquisitions of television stations. Here’s one graph:

The high cost of digital conversion will prove too much for smaller analog TV station owners, who will either sell out or be shut down by the federally mandated conversion in February 2009. Whether or not it is related to that watershed event, there have been more than 90 TV stations for sale in roughly 63 markets reaching about 28% of U.S. TV households, according to Bear Stearns. The piecemeal sellers include LIN TV, Nexstar, News Corp., Montecito and Lincoln Financial, ideally looking for 14-times earnings. Highly leveraged and stock deals have been at risk in light of the pressure on financial markets and acquisition multiples.

Here’s the RSS feed. Enjoy:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 8:56 am and is filed under Broadcasting, Disruptions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.