Broadcast towers provide mounting space for broadcasters including FM radio, AM radio, and Television (TV) antennas. Broadcast antennas are often massive, weighing anywhere from 1,000 pounds to 15 tons per antenna depending upon the type of broadcast service they provide and the coverage they are purposed to deploy. Most broadcast towers are guyed towers with three or more guy wires attached to grounded anchors. Broadcast towers can take up a great deal of ground space (up to 300 acres) which is why they are typically found in rural areas or on mountaintops where natural elevation provides the best location for transmitting a signal across a wider viewing or listening market.
FM Radio Towers – FM radio antennas are sometimes “collocated” on larger TV broadcast towers, although in a number of cases they can also share radio towers.
Low Power FM (LPFM) Towers – In 2000, the FCC created the low power FM radio service and started making spectrum available to noncommercial educational entities and public safety information entities for low power FM (less than 100 watts) transmission. Most LPFM leases that we see are from religious stations that are expanding the reach of their services over LPFM.
Negotiating broadcast tower leases is a bit more challenging than negotiating cell tower leases, and because they aren’t as common, comparable lease rates data isn’t as easy to gather. In addition, broadcast tower lease valuation can be more complex than normal cell tower valuation because while the broadcaster may have more latitude in the geographic area in which they can place the tower initially, there are also strict regulations where broadcasters are allowed to place large towers like those needed to fully propagate signal.
If a television or radio station has contacted you about placing a broadcast tower on your property or an antenna on your mountaintop, or about extending their exisiting lease, please contact us immediately.
