Negotiating Broadcast Tower Leases

Broadcast towers are towers that provide mounting space for FM radio, AM radio, and Television (TV) antennas. These antennas can weigh anywhere from 1000 pounds to 15 tons depending upon the type of service they provide and the market. Most broadcast towers are guyed towers with three (or more) guy wires attached to anchors in the ground. Because of this, a guyed tower can take up quite a bit of space. As these towers range up to 2000' in the United States, they can take up 300+ acres.

Accordingly, many broadcast towers are placed in rural areas away from population centers or on mountain tops where natural elevation provides the best location (and are cheaper) for broadcasting signal across the viewing or listening market.

Negotiating a broadcast tower lease is somewhat more difficult that negotiating a cell tower lease. The broadcaster may have more latitude in their engineering requirements in where they need the broadcast tower, but there may be other restrictions that limit the placement of the broadcast tower that the average landowner has no way of knowing.

Primarily, these consist of:

1. FAA regulations regarding air safety limiting the choice of locations where taller towers may be located

2. Local zoning regulations regarding the placement of a broadcast tower

3. FCC regulations regarding licensing and spacing between stations

Thus, it is often in the landowner's best interest to get expert assistance in negotiating broadcast tower leases. Just as with cell tower leases, there are many criteria to evaluate, but unlike cell tower leases, finding comparable lease data is significantly harder. Relying upon information from other landowners is not prudent. It assumes they knew what they were doing in the first place.

We can assist you with evaluating a broadcast tower lease and help you negotiate it. We have developed broadcast towers in the past and are familiar with how to negotiate and evaluate lease offers.

We can not help you get a lease on your property if you have not been contacted so please don't contact us to ask how you can get a broadcast tower on your property.

If you have been approached by a television station or a radio station to place a broadcast tower on your property or an antenna on your mountain top and wonder what questions you need to be asking, please Contact us.