Mission Broadcasting Buying WADL Detroit

Mission Broadcasting said it has agreed to acquire WADL Detroit from Adell Broadcasting Corp. The MyNetworkTV affiliate has been serving Detroit, the nation’s 14th largest market, since its launch in May 1989, and currently reaches nearly two million television households. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition of WADL is Mission’s second station in Michigan; the broadcast group also owns ABC affiliate WLAJ Lansing, the state’s capital.

“The purchase of WADL represents a rare opportunity to acquire a full-power station in a top-15 market,” said Dennis Thatcher, president of Mission Broadcasting. “We are very excited about playing a role in the continued renaissance of this great American city.”

Kevin Adell, Adell Broadcasting CEO, said: “I started this journey 34 years ago at my parents’ kitchen table, where I mortgaged their home in order to build what would later become WADL-TV. I could not have selected a better successor of my legacy than Mission Broadcasting.”

Mission said the transaction, subject to regulatory and other customary approvals, is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.