station trading

It took over a year, but the agency finally approved Nexstar’s $87.5 million acquisition of seven Grant stations with one being spun off to minority-owned Marshall Broadcasting. Marshall will own and operate KLJB Quad Cities-Davenport, Iowa, with the help of sales and shared services agreements with Nexstar.

Media General has won U.S. antitrust approval to buy LIN Media after agreeing to divest seven television stations in five markets, the Justice Department said on Thursday. The markets are Providence, R.I.; Savannah, Ga.; Birmingham, Ala.; Mobile, Ala.; and Green Bay, Wis. The deal was valued at $1.6 billion when it was announced in March.

The deal for the CW affiliate is a result of Meredith agreeing to spin off the station after buying it along with KTVK from Gannett in June.

The sale of KZFW-LP Dallas by DFW Broadcasting to Central Park Church of God tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

The sale of WMNT-CA Toledo, Ohio, by Community Broadcast Group to Novia Communications tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

Three weeks after its sister flagship station, WTVA Tupelo, Miss., was sold, a new owner has emerged for WLOV, the market’s Fox affiliate, It is being acquired by Coastal Television Broadcasting Co. of Cumming, Ga. The company is buying the station for an undisclosed sum from Tupelo Broadcasting Inc.

The sale of KBCB Bellingham, Wash., by Venture Technologies Group to Fox Television Stations tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

Tupelo Broadcasting is selling the Fox affiliate to Coastal Television Broadcasting Co., which also owns KTBY Anchorage, Alaska.

It’s paying Venture Technologies Group $10 million for KBCB Bellingham, which now airs ShopHQ and Estrella programming. The move follows last month’s notice that it is ending the Fox affiliation of Tribune’s KCPQ.

Board of directors and executive officers are appointed to lead the company post-merger.

After DuJuan McCoy paid his dues in local TV sales positions — “I believe sales is the crux of communication,” he says — he is now building a station group of his own, starting with his $18.6 million purchase of WEVV Evansville, Ind. The African-American entrepreneur believes adding news adds value to stations and he thinks he has a responsibility to “lay down groundwork for future minorities so that there’s some type of track record of success with minorities running television stations. That’s a responsibility that I think I have.”

The sale of WTVA Tupelo, Miss., by the Spain Family to Mississippi TV License Co. tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

Griffin Communications, owner of CBS affiliate KWTV Oklahoma City, has reached an agreement to purchase the city’s MNT affil, KSBI, from Family Broadcasting. The price was not disclosed.

The sale of K43HB-D Minneapolis by Ventana Television Inc. to DTV America Corp. tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

Former Gray CEO Bob Prather’s Heartland Media has added its fifth station with this purchase from the Spain family’s WTVA Inc.

The sale of WCIV Charleston, S.C., by Sinclair Broadcast Group to Howard Stirk Holdings tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

The $128 million purchase of ABC affiliates WJRT and WTVG was announced in July.

The sale of KSNV Las Vegas by Intermountain West Communications to Sinclair Broadcast Group tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

The FCC’s latest review of its ownership rules contains a couple of “tentative” findings pertaining to Big Four affiliations that could go a long way in shaping the industry and even determining how much broadcasters have to pay in reverse comp. The first would bar broadcasters from acquiring a second Big Four affiliate in a market via an affiliation swap as Tribune did in Indianapolis. The other would allow dual Big Four affiliations through the use of multicasting channels.

Sinclair Broadcast Group today announced that it has closed on its purchase of WGXA (Fox/ABC) Macon, Ga., from Frontier Broadcast Holdings. At the same time Sinclair also announced that it has closed on its sale of WHTM (ABC) Harrisburg, Pa., to Media General Inc.

The addition of Intermountain West’s NBC affiliate will give Sinclair three stations in the market. One will be sold, with the programming moved to subchannels of the remaining two.

Gray Television has made deals, with the help of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, to sell the stations to three minority or women-owned entities to comply with FCC rules. The stations involved are KXJB Fargo, N.D.; KJCT Grand Junction, Colo.; KHAS Hastings-Lincoln, Neb.; KAQY Monroe, La.; KNDX Bismarck, N.D.; and KXND Minot, N.D.

The swap/sale of stations between Media General, LIN Media and Sinclair Broadcast Group tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

The group, founded and chaired by Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., says the FCC erred in rejecting its request that an FCC hearing be held to look into allegations that Sinclair’s use of sidecar companies flouted FCC station ownership limits.

The Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network plans to relinquish the spectrum assigned to WEDW Bridgeport, one of four stations in its statewide network, in the FCC’s upcoming auction. Under its agreement with spectrum speculator LocusPoint Networks, the pubcaster received an undisclosed cash payout from LocusPoint and will share a portion of its future auction proceeds with the company.

The two companies say the deals should satisfy regulatory requirements related to their pending merger. As part of the arrangements, Media General is buying two stations in Colorado Springs and one in Tampa from Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The change from $27.82 a share to $25.97 follows the loss of CBS affiliation for LIN’s WISH Indianapolis. Given that LIN has 55.6 million shares outstanding, the per-price reduction shaves $103 million off the total value of the deal.

During quarterly earnings conference calls this morning, CEOs of both companies acknowledged it’s tough deciding which stations to divest to clear the way for their proposed merger. But decisions will have to come soon. “This will be a third-quarter kind of event for us,” said George Mahoney, president-CEO of Media General.

The CBS affiliate in Evansville, Ind., is being purchased by minority-led Bayou City Broadcasting Evansville. The sale brings Nexstar’s Communications Corp. of America station purchases into compliance with DOJ criteria.

That’s how Rich Boehne, Scripps president-CEO, described the agreement that will combine the two companies’ broadcast operations and spin off the newspapers, creating two companies. Investors and analysts were bullish too, with both companies’ stock up by double digits today. With the deal, Scripps becomes the fifth largest independent station group in terms of reach, covering 22 million U.S. television households — roughly 18 % —  with 34 stations in 24 markets, including 14 in top 50 DMAs.

The merged broadcast and digital media company, based in Cincinnati, will retain The E.W. Scripps Co. name. Both companies’ newspapers will be spun off into a new company to be called Journal Media Group, which will be headquartered in Milwaukee. The new Scripps will operate 34 TV stations reaching 18% of TV homes and 35 radio stations in eight markets. Current Scripps shareholders will end up with majority stakes in both companies. More on this story after the companies’ conference call with reporters at 9 a.m. ET.

LocusPoint Networks has added two more stations to its growing portfolio. It’s purchasing WMKE-CA Milwaukee (DMA 34) and WLEP-LD Erie, Pa.  (DMA 152) for $2.5 million each. WMKE is being sold by KM LPTV of Milwaukee (Myoung Hwa Bae, president) and WLEP has been sold by Hapa Media Properties (Kevin Joel Bae). Headed by William deKay and Ravi Potharlanka, LocusPoint in an investment firm that is acquiring stations with plans to participate in the FCC’s incentive auction. That two-step auction aims to buy spectrum from broadcasters and resell it to wireless carriers. Greg Guy of Patrick Communications was the broker of both deals.

The sale of SJL Holding’s WJRT Flint, Mich., and WTVG Toledo, Ohio, to Gray Television Inc. for $128 million tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

The commission says that Sinclair satisfied concerns about the deal violating ownership rules by selling its Harrisburg station and giving up its licenses to stations in Birmingham and Charleston, shifting programming to other stations it already owns. Sinclair will end up with ABC affiliates in six additional market after the $958 million deal is done.

The Wall Street Journal reports Sinclair Broadcast Group has moved one step closer to closing its long-pending $985 million purchase of the Allbritton family’s television holdings on Tuesday, after agreeing to settle an antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department. The settlement was reached in the wake of Sinclair’s agreement, announced last month, to sell one of the stations it is buying from Allbritton, ABC affiliate WHTM Harrisburg, Pa., to Media General for $83.4 million. WSJ subscribers can read the full story here.

The purchase of WLPH-CD Miami (DMA 16) by spectrum aggregator LocusPoint Networks from Gunter Marksteiner for $5.1 million has been completed. The deal was announced in April. Larry Patrick and Greg Guy of Patrick Communications advised the buyer, while Michael Alcamo of M.C. Alcamo & Co. advised the seller.

The sale of Sarah W. Stopford’s K39LS-D Jonesboro, Ark., to Michael Reed for $55,000 tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

The $215 million deal for six stations extends Gannett’s Texas coverage to 83% of the state’s households.

The swap of Cox Media Group’s KTVU Oakland and KICU San Jose, Calif., for Fox Television Stations’ WHBQ Memphis and WFXT Boston tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

The sale of WHTM Harrisburg, Pa., by Sinclair Broadcast Group to Media General for $83.4 million tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey