station trading

The two stations in Charlotte, N.C. that Fox Television Stations Group gobbled up in January may have only been the appetizer. The station arm of 21st Century Fox is sniffing around acquisition targets in several major markets, including Seattle, St. Louis and San Francisco. The push is part of a larger strategy to add to its station holdings in NFL markets, particularly markets with NFC teams, the conference for which Fox has a TV rights package. Fox at present has O&Os in 11 of the 16 NFC markets.

The sale by Cunningham Broadcasting Corp. of KDBC El Paso, Texas, and two New Mexico LPTVs to Sinclair Broadcast Group for $21 million tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

Delmarva Broadcast Services (Berl Brechner, managing partner) is selling its WMDT Salisbury, Md. (DMA 144). The station, which airs ABC on its main channel and The CW on a subchannel, is being purchased for $9 million by Marquee Broadcasting, which is owned by Brian and Patricia Lane and is the Lane’s first television acquisition. Brokers: Patrick Communications for the seller, Kozacko Media Services for the buyer.

Sinclair Broadcast Group announced Thursday that it has closed on its previously announced acquisition of Fisher Communications Inc. valued at approximately $373.3 million. The deal included 13 full-power and seven low-power TV stations and four radio stations. Under the terms of the agreement, Fisher shareholders received $41 in cash for each share of Fisher common stock they owned. The transaction represented a 44% premium to the closing price of Fisher common stock on Jan. 9, the final trading day prior to Fisher announcing a review of strategic alternatives.

Emily Barr, CEO of the Washington Post Co.’s six-station television division says it wasn’t a bidder for Allbritton’s WJLA Washington and will continue its acquisition strategy. “We pay attention to, and consider, any and all possibilities as they come along, but we’re a very disciplined company and any decision to purchase would be consistent with that philosophy.”

“The acquisitions we have pending would get into the relatively low nine-figure amount,” the Nexstar CEO told analysts today. One of those pending deals may be for Granite Broadcasting Corp.’s 10 stations, which include an independent in San Francisco (DMA 6) and an unaffiliated in Detroit (DMA 11).

The sale by News-Press & Gazette Co. of KJCT Grand Junction, Colo., and its associated low-power television stations to Excalibur Broadcasting for $3 million-plus tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

Many media business analysts have applauded recent Gannett Co. and Tribune Co. moves to increase their stable of local television stations and reduce their reliance on newspaper holdings. But a Pew Research Center examination of the state of the local television news industry also suggests a cautionary note is warranted. While traditional print companies may be moving toward higher and drier economic ground by expanding their television holdings, that may only prove a temporary respite if some worrisome trends in local TV news continue.

Former Tribune exec Wilson’s Dreamcatcher Broadcasting is buying WNEP Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton, Pa., and WTKR-WGNT Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va., The deal is necessitated by Tribune’s need to spin off the recently purchased stations because it owns newspapers in those markets. It will operate them, however, under shared services agreements.

Excalibur is buying Grand Junction, Colo., ABC affil for $3 million plus $9 million from Gray Television, which will operate it.

Newsroom employees at Washington’s ABC affiliate are concerned that job cuts might be in the station’s future now that it’s being purchased by Sinclair Broadcast Group from Allbritton Communications.

The ABC affiliate is sold by Three Sisters Broadcasting to Zolo Media, the owner of the market’s CBS affiliate.

The deal includes Allbritton’s flagship WJLA, Washington’s ABC affiliate, and the NewsChannel 8 D.C. cable news network. To comply with FCC ownership rules, Sinclair will sell four of its current stations: WABM (MNT) and WTTO (CW) Birmingham, Ala.; WHP (CBS) Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York, Pa.; and WMMP (MNT) Charleston, S.C. It says NewsChannel 8 “provides the perfect platform should we decide to expand it into other markets, especially given the amount of local news we produce across our entire portfolio.”

The American Cable Association, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV are objecting to a part of Gannett’s proposed $2.2 billion acquisition of Belo Corp.’s TV stations, saying that the deal threatens to drive up retransmission fees and risk even more station blackouts in negotiation standoffs.

The sale by Tribune Co. of three stations and eight translators to Dreamcatcher Broadcasting for $27 million tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

Most observers think the station group will sell its flagship WJLA Washington to one bidder (the odds-on favorite is Disney-ABC), with the other seven likely going to a buyer looking for duopoly opportunities. Bids for the group are due Monday.

The sale of Sky Television’s WSKY Manteo, N.C., to Lockwood Broadcasting for $1 million tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

With new mega-media deals being announced every few weeks, TVNewsCheck‘s Price Colman speculates on how a combination of those two big players might come about and what it could look like.

Here are two things you don’t see often in corporate mergers and acquisitions. Shares of Belo Corp., the Dallas-based owner of television stations, are trading for more than the takeover offer the company agreed to last month. And shares of the buyer, Gannett Co., have increased even more in value. The market is saying that Gannett got a much better deal than Belo did — so much so, that some investors buying Belo’s stock seem to hope that Gannett will raise its offer.

As companies like Tribune and Gannett buy up television stations, the goal is not transformation, but leverage, using size to cut better deals with distributors and suppliers.

Gannett and the Tribune Co. have recently purchased groups of TV stations in locations where political advertising can be highly lucrative.

The sale of Local TV LLC’s stations to Tribune Co. for $2.7 billion tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Kelsey.

The addition of the full-power station in Philadelphia gives NBCU’s Hispanic group 16 stations.

Free Press President Craig Aaron: “The FCC needs to end this charade. If the agency’s rules don’t allow mergers between these stations, then de facto mergers shouldn’t be allowed either. If that means breaking up a few big media companies along the way and stopping this deal, so be it.”

With the acquisition of Local TV’s 19 stations in 16 markets, Tribune’s broadcast portfolio will swell from 23 to 42 stations — 14 CW affiliates, 14 Fox affiliates, five CBS affiliates, three ABC affiliates, two NBC affiliates and four independents.

R and S Broadcasting LLC has sold WRNT-LP, ch. 48, Hartford, Conn. (DMA 30), and WTXX-LP, ch. 34, Springfield, Mass. (DMA 114), to Landover 5 LLC for $300,000. Salvatore Minniti […]

A report from Wells Fargo’s J. Davis Hebert uses different valuation models to estimate the worth of the Local TV/FoxCo. stations and other deals. In the midrange of 9X-10X EBITDA, Local TV/FoxCo. is valued at between $2 billion and $2.3 billion. The Allbritton group’s value range is much wider due to the inclusion of WJLA Washington (DMA 8) in the package, but again, a mid-range valuation would be $794 million to $893 million. The report also provides a historical look at broadcast M&A activity over the past few years.

The move by Gannett Co. to buy Belo Corp., announced June 13, is among several big changes that will affect the St. Louis television market, leading to changes in oversight and potentially to fewer jobs.

As one industry observer puts it: “If you’re not looking to merge or acquire, you’re a bonehead dinosaur. Everybody should be on the block. If you bought assets to eventually sell, now is the time to sell.” Among the station groups in play are Local TV LLC/FoxCo’s 21 stations; Allbritton; Grant Communications; and Granite Broadcasting. Possible buyers include Sinclair, Nexstar, Fox, Raycom, LIN and ABC.

Serial acquirer Nexstar Broadcasting Group is in talks with several companies to buy TV stations and could spend up to $650 million on acquisitions over the next two years, according to CEO Perry Sook. He said  some stations run by Local TV LLC could fit the bill, but declined to say whether his company was in talks with owner Oak Hill Capital Partners.

Landover Wireless of New York is picking up the stations from Mako Communications of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Overlapping stations in Phoenix and St. Louis will continue to battle it out for ratings and revenue as the “ability of local broadcasters to compete and thrive” is key to their viability, says Gannett’s head of broadcasting David Lougee. “We will operate those stations and hold them to the same standards and accountability that we do today.”

The buyer of independent KXTF Twin Falls, Idaho, and NBC affiliate KPVI Idaho Falls-Pocatello, Idaho, is Los Angeles radio station owner Jason Wolff.

Just three weeks after our annual TVNewsCheck-BIA/Kelsey Top 30 Station Groups ranking appeared, it’s time for a recount. The recent Media General-Young and Gannett-Belo deals have reordered that universe. As I told you here a month ago, expect more comings and goings on the Top 30 over the next year to 18 months. With the exception of the network O&O groups and a few determined buyers like Sinclair, everything appears to be in play. While Sinclair will continue to scoop up smaller groups, I expect to see more mergers of near equals among groups in the top 20.

The deal, which includes $1.5 billion in cash and $715 in assumption of debt, creates a self-described “super group” with 43 stations and accelerates the print-to-electronic transformation of Gannett. The valuation pegs the cash-flow multiple at 9.4x without expected synergies of $175 million or 5.4x with the synergies.

While Nexstar is at the forefront of groups actively buying TV stations, CEO Perry Sook says there may come a time when even a buyer like Nexstar becomes a seller. If someone were to offer a big premium on the company’s share price, he says, “that would be a very interesting conversation to have in the board room.”

Industry analysts think the move, which will give Media General 30 network affiliates across 27 markets reaching 14% of U.S. TV households, makes a lot of sense. “It’s nothing short of a great deal,” says Barry Lucas, SVP-research at Gabelli & Co. “It’s a home run for them.”

The combined company will own or operate 30 network-affiliated TV stations across 27 markets reaching 14% of U.S. TV households.

The sale of three stations and one translator by Sagamore Hill Broadcasting to Yellowstone Holdings LLC for $20.5 million tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA/Kelsey.

The $115.35 million deal, first reported in March, adds three Fox, two CW and one CBS affiliates in California, Nebraska and Iowa to Sinclair’s portfolio.