Vintage Sports Programming Firm Finds Niche Stations
BY CONNIE LEWIS
Staff Writer
Cavalcade of Sports Media Inc., a publicly traded Del Mar firm in the market for low-powered television stations to air nostalgic sports and ethnic programming, announced it recently submitted offers on four such stations.
“We’ve identified four stations , two in Florida, one in Las Vegas and one in Michigan,” said company President Edward Litwak.
Having identified about 30 other suitable stations throughout the country, Litwak said more offers will be made before the end of the year in keeping with a plan to acquire 10 to 15 stations. While there are a couple of low-power stations in San Diego County, they are not being considered, he added.
To date, almost $1 million has been spent acquiring an extensive library of professional and college sports film footage and converting it to tape for TV, he said, describing its value as a negotiation tool for purchasing stations.
Typically known as “mom and pop” operations, low-power stations may tap large viewer audiences as they are aired on cable channels under a “must carry” ruling by the Federal Communications Commission. But they are relatively inexpensive to purchase, compared to network and cable channels, he said.
“Low-power stations have trouble making it because they can’t afford to buy programming. What we will offer them initially is programming and what we will want is an interest in the station,” he said.
On the theory that cable channel audiences will be receptive to sports clips dating as far back as the 1940s and earlier, Litwak said Cavalcade of Sports Media expects that low-power station owners will be willing to negotiate partnerships with no money up front in exchange for bountiful programming and the potential it offers for boosting revenue from increased advertising.
Plans also include changing the company name to simply Cavalcade Media Inc., reflecting the addition of a new division that will be devoted to ethnic programming, Litwak said.
“We want to break ground by trying to bring films produced in India to the U.S.,” he said.
Founded two years ago, the company went public in May. It is listed under the symbol CVOS on the over-the-counter bulletin board.
But $3 million in spending capital raised thus far has come from private placements, Litwak said.