station trading

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox has decided not to bid for a group of television stations being sold by Nexstar Media Group, according to a person familiar with the situation. The company, which will be spun out of a separate deal with Walt Disney Co. next week, is focusing instead on getting better terms on the deals it has with affiliate stations, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.

According to FCC filings, Terrier Media, a new company created by an Apollo private equity fund, will pay $3.1 billion for the Cox broadcast stations, but that number will be reduced by the value of the still unspecified amount of equity that Cox will retain in the stations. In the end, the Apollo fund will hold 77% of the Terrier equity, while Cox and Northwest Broadcasting, another station group Terrier is rolling up, will split the other 23%. Terrier will keep current Cox managment and be based in Atlanta.  

The $21 million deal announced in December includes full-power, Class A and low-power television stations serving the Sacramento and Salt Lake City markets.

The sale of WCAV-TV, WVAW-LD Charlottesville, VA by Gray Television to Lockwood Broadcasting tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

It’s selling its CBS-Fox affiliate WCAV and ABC affil WVAW to Lockwood Broadcasting and buying the market’s NBC affiliate WVIR from Waterman Broadcasting.

The TV industry has an unlikely new star: Leon Black. The billionaire investor is poised to become one of the biggest players in local television thanks to a dealmaking spree. His private equity firm, Apollo Global Management, is working on a trifecta of transactions that could give it control of more than 40 stations from Atlanta to Seattle. First off, Apollo is in talks to buy a group of local television stations from Nexstar Media Group Inc. for more than $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The deal could be announced in the next week, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the discussions aren’t public.

The sale of W28ES-D New York New York by Venture Technologies Group to HC2 Holdings tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

Apollo Global Management will get a majority interest in Cox Media Group’s 13 television stations. Cox Enterprises will maintain a minority stake and will join Apollo in forming a new company to operate these stations, which will be headquartered in Atlanta.

The sale of two stations and related licenses in Minnesota and New York by United Communications to Gray Television tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

Apollo Global Management LLC is nearing a roughly $3 billion agreement to acquire Cox Enterprises Inc.’s 14 TV stations, the biggest in a series of deals the private equity firm is lining up to become a force in U.S. broadcasting, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. Apollo is also a bidder for a portfolio of local TV stations worth about $1 billion that Nexstar Media Group  plans to shed following its $4.1 billion takeover of Tribune Media. And it may snap up stations of Northwest Broadcasting.

The $45 million acquisition comprises CBS affil WWNY and WNYF-CD (Fox) Watertown, N.Y., and CBS-Fox affiliate KEYC Mankato, Minn.

The sale of KORY Eugene, Ore., from WatchTV to HC2 Holdings tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

The Justice Department has signed off on the sale of 15 TV stations from Evening Post Industries’ (EPI) Cordillera Communications to Scripps for $521 million. That came in an early termination notice Tuesday released by the Federal Trade Commission, which divvies up merger reviews. The notice means that the antitrust review has been ended early with no issues that would cause the deal to be blocked or conditioned.

In a filing with the FCC, the station group says it will ask the agency for a waiver of the rule that prohibits common ownership of two top four stations in a market. Nexstar also acknowledges that it will have to exit markets to comply with the commission’s 39% ownership cap. As things now stand, the merger would swell Nexstar’s coverage to 47.1%.

Nexstar has identified three stations it plans to sell and 11 other markets where it intends to divest stations so that its acquisition of Tribune Media can obtain regulatory approvals. The first stations going on the block are WTKR Norfolk, Va.; WGNT Portsmouth, Va,; and WNEP Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Tegna, Hearst and EW Scripps are all planning on submitting final offers for Cox Media Group’s 14 TV stations at the end of January, according to people familiar with the matter. Final bids are due by Jan. 30, said the people, who asked not to be named because the process is private. A deal could fetch more than $2 billion, and possibly close to $3 billion, the people said.

In the largest deal of the quarter and year, Nexstar Media Group announced on Dec. 3 that it would acquire all of Tribune Media’s assets for $46.50 per share. Kagan estimates the broadcast assets to be worth $3.51 billion.

In wrapping up its $3.6 billion purchase of Raycom Media, it expands its footprint to 91 markets and 24% of TV homes. In connection with the merger, Gray and Raycom also completed the divestitures of nine stations in overlap markets to Tegna, Scripps and Lockwood.

The spinoffs from the Gray-Raycom merger brings Scripps’ holdings to 36 TV stations in 26 markets and gives Scripps its first stations in Texas and expands its Florida presence.

The sale of WSWF-LD Orlando, Fla., from Charles S. Namey to Major Market Broadcasting tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

The $3.6 billion merger creates another TV mega-group with stations in 92 markets reaching 24% of TV homes (or 17% with the UHF discount the FCC uses in calculating compliance with its 39% ownership cap).

Gray and Raycom must divest television stations in nine markets to receive approval of the $3.6 billion merger.

With the closing of the $8 million sale of eight stations to Lotus Communications, Scripps has gotten out of the radio station business. Selling all its stations brought in $83.5 million.

The sale of WHDT Stuart, Fla., from Günter Marksteiner to E.W. Scripps Co. tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

Armstrong Williams: “The Nexstar-Tribune merger presents a similar opportunity to advance minority ownership and opportunity, and the FCC DOJ should take full advantage of the chance.”

With the Democrats taking control of the House when the new session starts Jan. 3, lawmakers and media players are re-adjusting their strategies and preparing for a slew of new hearings and investigations. Democrats have already started to circle their wagons around Nexstar’s proposed purchase of Tribune Media.

Nexstar Media Group’s deal to buy Tribune Media Company for $4.1 billion is the latest merger to test Trump administration regulators tasked with overseeing a rapidly consolidating media industry. Nexstar doesn’t have the same political baggage as Sinclair, but critics are just as concerned about its proposal to consolidate so many local news outlets across the country under one umbrella.

The spinoffs necessary for regulatory approval will include stations in at least 13 of 15 markets: Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City; Des Moines, Iowa; Ft. Smith, Ark; Davenport, Iowa; Memphis, Grand Rapids, Mich; Indianapolis, Huntsville, Ala; Hartford, Conn.; Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pa.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Hagerstown, Md.; Richmond, Va; and Norfold, Va. Nexstar CEO Perry Sook says he expects those spinoffs will sell for around $1 billion.

Nexstar Media Group has reached an agreement to acquire Tribune Media for about $4.1 billion, a deal which would make it the largest local U.S. TV station operator, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

Reuters is reporting that Northwest Broadcasting’s Brian Brady is joining forces with private equity Apollo Global Management to make a bid for Tribune Media. The report also says that Nexstar is in the Tribune chase and that if it fails it will turn its sights on Cox Media’s TV group, which includes three Top 25 ABC affiliates.

The sale of three stations in Hawaii to Nexstar Media Group tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

The station group is buying MNT affiliate KFVE for $6.5 million so that it can pair it with KHON, an affiliate of Fox and the CW, according to CEO Perry Sook. Raycom has been operating KFVE under a shared services agreement.

Its purchase of WSIL Paducah, Ky., follows that of KVOA Tucson, Ariz., earlier this week. Terms have not yet been disclosed for either deal. The two stations swell Quincy’s portfolio to 16 markets.

The deal will bring the Scripps station portfolio to 51 stations in 36 markets with a reach of nearly 21% of U.S. TV households and includes three duopolies — in Helena and Great Falls, Montana, and Corpus Christi, Texas. Cordillera is selling its remaining station, NBC affiliate KVOA Tucson, Ariz., to Quincy Media.

The sale of W16CO-D Middleburg and W14DF-D Elliottsburg, Pa., tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

The sale of K20JX-D Sacramento, Calif., tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.