Vincent Sadusky

The leadership of Vincent Sadusky was key to winning approval of the merger of LIN Media into Media General, which is expected to close late this year or early in 2015. He will bring in a leadership team, displacing many longtime LIN executives. IBut it’s still unclear what’s in store for two top TV execs, Media General’s Deb McDermott and LIN’s Jay Howell, since their current jobs overlap.

“We are a very financially disciplined company,” said LIN CEO Vincent Sadusky. “We have no interest in getting bigger for bigger’s sake.… We do believe this is an accretive deal and there are opportunities to create further duopolies. We like the transaction, we like the mix of assets, we think it makes this entity stronger.”

LIN TV CEO Vincent Sadusky says that M&A in the TV station business is likely to increase with “non-traditional” owners as potential sellers. Recently, Sinclair announced a deal to acquire seven stations from private-equity firm Cerberus, while Newport Television, which is owned partly by Providence Equity, has an impressive portfolio, though it may not be for sale.

Core TV ad revenue, which excludes political advertising, dropped 2% over the first quarter of 2010. Digital revenue was up 31% and now accounts for 19% of the company’s total revenue.