Services

Since April 2000, we have provided business owners with the highest levels of independent transaction advisory services.  Our expertise includes media and communications transactions in these areas:

Sales of EBS licenses

We assist colleges, universities, PBS groups and regional school boards with sourcing sales and long-term leases of their EBS spectrum.

In 1963, the FCC allocated 2,193 licenses in the 2.5 GHz band for educators use in creating instructional television.  This later became the Educational Broadband Service or "EBS" band.  Unfortunately, Washington did not provide the funds to buy the equipment necessary to implement this vision (nor was it clear that children could learn effectively by watching a teacher on a small television screen).  Consequently, for 40 years, EBS licenses remained unused.

Notably, EBS frequencies occupy the "sweet spot" of midband spectrum:  EBS wavelengths permit optimal signal propagation and high data capacity.  In the late 1990s, through long-term leases, wireless providers gradually gained control over virtually all of the 2,193 licenses.

Effective April 27, 2020, EBS licenses were "re-zoned" for commercial use.  It is now possible for licensees to negotiate a sale or long-term lease for a best and highest price.  The regulatory change also provides for a 2021 forward auction of "overlay licenses" on the same frequencies, but subject to, the legacy EBS licenses.  This creates a strong incentive for wireless carriers to pay a premium to acquire the last EBS holdouts, in order to create a contiguous nationwide inventory of spectrum as the backbone for national 5G service.

Contiguity of spectrum is critical:  owning adjacent spectrum blocks enables a wireless provider to create a 100 MHz-wide carrier, the maximum available under 5G.  Sellers that can enable a purchaser to create this 100 MHz carrier are thus in a  position to extract a premium.

We apply twenty years of domain expertise to setting an asking price for an EBS license, incorporating:

• valid, relevant and defensible market comparables;
• the true size of the EBS license;
• an accurate measure of current covered population (which can include seasonal and student populations); and
• a potential purchaser's nearby and adjacent spectrum holdings.

By utilizing these specific metrics, we negotiate the best and highest prices for university boards and school districts that are considering options for their spectrum.

Please feel free to request our October 2019 white paper "Opportunities for EBS License Holders".

UHF and VHF spectrum transactions

We have assisted dozens of television station owners with strategic transactions for their 600 MHz television spectrum.  Engagements have included:

• Negotiating numerous long-term channel-share agreements at high values for our clients.
• Arranging the donation of nine low-power television stations to a major not-for-profit broadcaster.
• Providing strategic advisory services relating to FCC incentive auctions.
• Implementing a Single Frequency Network to expand network coverage and permit the disposition of a full-service station.
• Securing over-the-air sub-channel carriage in key markets for use by a national network.
• Sourcing replacement UHF spectrum for a broadcaster that moved to the low-VHF band.

Television station sales

Since 2007, our television station sale practice has advised more than twenty sales of television stations in all categories:

• We have advised commercial broadcasters and non-commercial educational broadcasters.
• We have advised the successful and high-value sales of full-service, Class A, and non-Class A low-power stations.
• Our clients have held both VHF and UHF assets.
• We have advised the successful sale of network affiliates and unaffiliated, independent stations.  We have advised the highest "stick value" transactions in recent memory.
• We have provided fairness options and strategic assessments.

We mainly work for sellers, but have performed strategic assessments for purchasers seeking coverage or spectrum in key areas.  We have a strong and positive working relationship with C-level decision-makers at all broadcasting groups.

Business-to-business media and information

Throughout our firm's 20-year history, we have advised the successful sale of numerous companies in consumer and business-to-business media.  These have included:

• business-to-business information companies;
• seminars, conferences, trade shows and exhibitions;
• regional and community publishing and media;
• educational conferences and online education;
• business information and business newsletters; and
• online media and marketing.

Workouts and restructurings

We have applied our transaction expertise, innovation, and creativity to assisting investors in disengaging from joint ventures or troubled investments.  We apply a highly professional and results-oriented approach to achieve tangible and satisfactory results  ahead of expectations.

Domain expertise

Our domain expertise is to draw upon superior knowledge and research in our industries and apply a patient and professional approach, in order to achieve mission-critical results for clients.

Core strengths

We are known throughout the communications industries for our core strengths:

• We deliver the highest quality in independent investment banking services.
• Each engagement we accept is an important priority for our firm.
• We understand the importance sellers place on confidentiality and discretion.
• We are dedicated to achieving excellence in everything we do.