Fisher Buying KMTR Eugene, OR, For $8.5M

Fisher Communications may soon have a duopoly in Eugene, Ore. (DMA 121), having agreed to purchase NBC affiliate KMTR for $8.5 million from Newport Television, according to an SEC filing by Fisher. Fisher already owns the market’s CBS affiliate, KVAL.

Since FCC rules prohibit ownership of two top-rated stations in markets as small as Eugene, Fisher is transferring the station to an unrelated third party, Roberts Media LLC, but will operate the station in tandem with KCBY under a shared-services agreement.

Fisher, a unit of the publicly traded Fisher Communications of Seattle, owns 20 TV stations, 13 full-powers and seven low-powers, in eight markets.

The SEC filing does not identify the owner of Roberts Media.

Newport has yet to file papers with the FCC asking it to approve the deal.

The deal is part of the sell-off of the Newport stations by its private equity owner Providence Equity Partners. It began the sell-off in July, announcing deals with Nexstar, Sinclair and Cox totaling nearly $1 billion.