• The Deal, Monday, July 20, 2009 10:04 PM

Those in the TV and broadcasting industry may be jumping for joy when the political gloves come off next year. Kevin Shea, managing director at Loughlin Meghji & Co., thinks that the pending political battles in 2010 will feed ad revenue to cash-starved TV station operators.

Shea and his firm advise lending groups in media bankruptcies, such as the Young Broadcasting and Pappas Telecasting cases. The sector may also soon see Sinclair Broadcast Group succumb to bankruptcy because of debt problems.

Shea believes in the future of the TV and broadcasting industry, largely because of potentially greener pastures in 2010 in the form of political revenue from those campaigning for seats in Congress. "We don't see [TV] as moribund like the newspaper business," he says. "Come hell or high water, there is going to be political ad revenue" next year, even without a presidential election. "Plenty of gubernatorial, Senate and congressional seats and local elections will be hotly contested," he says.

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