Careers in Broadcast & Media Finance

The broadcast & media finance field is an exciting and opportune place to be given the wide range of industry and market segments who have adopted or are implementing technology. There are terrific opportunities for professionals who seek to participate in one of many different career disciplines that the fields of broadcast and media financing offers. Lets start by looking at some of the market segments and driving factors where broadcast and media technology is being implemented, enhanced, developed and integrated.

Broadcast & Media Finance in the Television segment:
The evolution of digital technology across all market segments and the congressional mandate for the convergence to High Definition (HD) broadcasting is driving the TV market. Consider that a single television station must spend between $3M and $10M to implement a complete HD television broadcast capability. TV groups, religious broadcasters, university broadcasters, corporate broadcasters and government broadcasters all must access and integrate new technology. The cost is immense. But wait....a problem for many organizations and institutions is that while the cost of converting to HD transmitters and a myriad of related technology, is very high.....there is no immediate nor corresponding revenue increase to offset these costs. There may be the "promise" of new revenue streams but those are forecast to come sometime later. Hence the opportunity for financing that helps "spread the cost of technology to match the timing of revenues.

Another factor that spurs the value of financing is that many small market stations are actually seeing their historic revenues decline. Part of this is due to the fact that there are so many new competitors chiseling away at various advertising dollars and revenue points. Internet television (IPTV), the internet itself (websites), cable networks, radio, all of these competitors chip away at a small market TV stations' position to attract advertising revenue. Also given that historically the automobile business was a key source of advertising revenue and the current slump of that industry it is no wonder that small market stations may need help allocating their technology costs over a period of time.

Financing the digital technology evolution in Radio:
While Radio isn't under the time deadlines to convert broadcast signals to digital in the way that broadcast television is nonetheless there is an evolution in radio to convert to digital transmission and that wave of technology evolution is building. With over 12,500 radio stations in the United States the opportunity for financing digital technology on behalf of station groups, independents, religious broadcaster and public broadcasters is significant. Consider that a typical digital transmitter, tower, antenna along with station automation and a digital license may costs between $75,000 and $250,000 per station. Many stations are not "cash cows" and the ability to spread the cost of digital transmission and other equipment is attractive to station owners and financial decision makers.

What about Cable?
A funny thing happened on the way to the broadcast networks. Cable has emerged as a commanding force taking control of niche segments and significant control of advertising revenues. Consider the diverse array of successful Cable channels that have emerged in recent years: Discovery with the history channel, animal planet, discovery channel. There is Trinity Broadcasting (TBN) religious programming, not to mention over a dozen "faith based" networks. There is the NFL network, The YES (Yankees) network and many other channels. The Big Ten has its own sparkling new network. Some of the first cable networks were the Home Shopping Network and QVC. One only needs to look at the channel line up to see the diversity of offerings. Certainly there are the large mega-cable operators such as Comcast and Time Warner but there are also 1100 other local, regional and national cable operators offering everything from regional programming to local, small town, television. And for all of these cable operators there is the need for new and continually upgraded technology such as "head end" equipment, receiver and transmission equipment, satellite uplink equipment, subscriber billing and monitoring equipment and test and measurement equipment.

What is Triple Play?
If you think the telephone companies are sitting back letting the cable companies invade their turf with the "triple play" of cable TV, Cable Internet and Cable Telephone...think again...The telco's have their own broadcast initiative. Its alled IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). With IPTV we are going to see the localization of broadcasting. The local university will be able to broadcast a home game to its alumni via the internet. The local city hall will broadcast its meetings to your computer. Telephone companies already have a subscriber base and many telco's are betting that they can offer programing to their customers....programing that attracts advertising revenues. Like TV, and Radio and Cable, IPTV bears entry costs and the "up front" costs for technology are steep when one considers that subscribers and revenues are months or years down the road. The "front end" nature of equipment costs represents an opportunity for financiers to provide operating budget solutions versus capital budget constraints.

Are there other areas of opportunity in broadcast and media finance?
In short the answer is "yes" and "yes" and "yes"........Just a few of the huge areas of potential are medical broadcast, video production and audio visual, sports broadcast, use of video, stadium technology including everything from million dollar digital scoreboards to sound reinforcement, in-stadium and arena broadcast facilities, digital display networks and digital advertising banners. Corporate broadcast facilities are being engaged and upgraded with digital broadcast featured by large companies with corporate training facilities and global educational programs. General Motors and Microsoft have invested millions in corporate broadcast but so have many of the large and not so large corporate firms. The church and worship segments are leaders in the implementation of broadcast and media technology. And so it goes, on and on and on.

IS NOW A GOOD TIME TO CONSIDER A CAREER IN MEDIA FINANCE?
Technology finance of itself continues to be a terrific arena for financing opportunities. Broadcast and media finance is a specialization but I believe one that has become broader with expanded possibilities. Career positions in broadcast and media finance offer an interesting array of possibilities. Whether your area of interest is sports or theater or live sound, broadcast or audio visual, corporate boardroom or training room technology, distance learning, worship technology, or mobile broadcast there are plenty of opportunities where financing expertise is needed. In many cases, in fact in most cases, technology users are seeking guidance, comfort, honest consulting and help exploring their options and alternatives.