• Reuters, Thursday, July 8, 2010 12:05 AM

Small-sized acquisitions and strategic buys rather than blockbuster multibillion-dollar deals will be on the minds of media moguls and financiers who gather at this week's Sun Valley conference. At the top of their shopping lists will be individual media assets, such as TV stations, radio companies and newspapers, rather than powerhouse takeovers like Comcast Corp's acquisition of NBC Universal last year, reports Reuters.

BankStreet investment banker Scott Singer says "TV network affiliates as well as radio stations are areas where ... the private equity community has a high interest to put funds to work. These factors will likely lead to a substantial amount of M&A activity in the coming months." Many executives are also looking for social media and digital deals to augment their traditional TV companies.

Surveying deals over the past six months, investment bank The Jordan, Edmiston Group found that online-related B2B, B2C marketing services and mobile media accounted for 74% of total deal activity in the first half of 2010, notes Paid Content. M&A volume in the interactive marketing services areas received a boost in June, when Hearst paid $325 million for search-marketer iCrossing.

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