• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 2, 2016

Under President-elect Donald Trump, executives are hoping for a bigger promise of a large national footprint with additional TV station acquisitions.

Marci Ryvicker, media analyst of Wells Fargo, believes the recent rise in stock prices among TV station groups is pinned to the hope of deregulation -- where one individual TV station group can grow beyond the federal rules placing a 39% limit on its overall U.S. household coverage.

Where might that go? Ryvicker says the U.S. TV station coverage limit could expand to 45% or possibly even 50% of the marketplace.

In that regard, analysts might wonder what opportunities might arise from perhaps an ever smaller -- but more powerful -- number of TV station groups.

Does local cable advertising stand to make better deal for marketers -- especially when it comes to addressable TV advertising through set-top boxes?

Local retail data -- first-party data from marketers -- continues to gain in value among those major national TV advertisers.  But right now, local cable has somewhat of a leg up in this area versus that of local TV stations.

TV stations counter this by saying their local TV viewership, amassed together, is bigger than cable -- and far more lucrative and powerful for local-minded marketers.

New programmatic efforts will help out here for local TV stations. But that’s long-term. Going forward, TV groups will look to more immediate results coming from buying more TV stations.