TV Groups Endure Stock Declines

A number of TV station groups witnessed sharp declines in their stock prices in midday Tuesday trading -- partly due to projected softness in future advertising.

One of the biggest, Sinclair Broadcast Group, had its stock down 4.7% to $30.77. Nexstar Broadcasting Group was off 4.4% to $46.57; Media General lost 5.9% to $16.63; Lin Media declined 3.9% to $22.89; E.W. Scripps gave up 2.2% to $18.47; Journal Communications was off 2% to $9.29; and Gannett Co. gave back 1.7% to $33.41.

CBS was down 1.7% to $59.15. Although its revenue base is more diversified, CBS still derives a sizable portion of its business from advertising revenues. Other media companies headed south: TiVo was off 1.7% to $13.51; and Pandora Media sank 2.5% to $25.73.

Analysts have been leery about possible softness in advertising revenues -- not just with national TV networks, but locally at TV stations and other platforms.

There is also some volatility in the wake of possible mergers (AT&T-DirecTV and Comcast-Time Warner Cable), as well as the abandonment of mergers, with 21st Century Fox dropping its potential deal for Time Warner. 

Another important factor is that in the last 12 months, there have been a number of major TV station group deals/mergers.

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