• by Wayne Friedman , January 7, 2016

Television stations deals were at $326 million, according to SNL Kagan -- a fifth of the volume registered in the third quarter of 2015, which was at $2.6 billion. Kagan says this $326 million mark was more than the deal volume for the entire first half of this year.

Still, 2015 will end up well under 2014 -- around half that of a year ago, which was at $7.26 billion. In 2013, TV station deals were at the $11.4 billion mark.

One major deal that was not included in SNL Kagan calculations was the agreement for Media General stations -- an announced deal by Meredith Corp. for $3.1 billion in September 2015. Soon afterward, a higher offer was made by Nexstar Broadcasting for $4.1 billion.

On Wednesday, Nexstar Broadcasting and Media General agreed to terms to acquire 17 Media General TV stations.

Radio was at $160.4 million for the fourth quarter -- down from the $422 level in the third quarter of 2015. For the entire 2014, radio deals totaled $1.51 billion, up from the $1.02 billion level in 2013.

TV deals' cash flow multiples grew slightly in the fourth quarter to 8.4 times a forward seller’s cash flow. This was up 0.1 of a point from the third quarter.

Radio cash flow multiples remained unchanged, at 6.7 times a forward seller’s cash flow.