Lockwood Buys 2nd TV In Knoxville For $3M

Lockwood Broadcast Group is creating a duopoly in Knoxville, Tenn. (DMA 61), acquiring WMAK from Daystar Television to operate in tandem with its CW affiliate WBXX, which Lockwood acquired from Acme Communications in May 2011. The price is $2,950,000, according to the FCC filing seeking approval of the deal.

Daystar is a subsidiary of Word of God Fellowship, a religious broadcaster headed by Marcus and Joni Lamb. The filing asserts that the deal meets the FCC criteria for owning two full-power TV stations in a market: More than eight independently owned stations will remain in the market after the deal and neither of the stations are among the market’s top four in the ratings.

Lockwood has also applied at the FCC to change the call letters of WMAK to WKNX.

Lockwood President Dave Hanna is already referring to the station as WKNX. “We’re excited about adding WKNX, The Knox, to our growing group of stations,” he said in a statement. “This is a terrific opportunity to better serve the community and advertisers in Knoxville and maximize the wonderful resources in place at WBXX. “

Lockwood also owns CW affiliate WQCW Charleston-Huntington W.Va.; CW affiliate WHDF Huntsville-Decatur, Ala., and KTEN Sherman, Texas-Ada, Okla.; which is affiliated with NBC, ABC and The CW.