Nexstar divests local TV stations ahead of Media General buy


Details

Michelle Clancy

| 31 May 2016




Nexstar Broadcasting has sold off five of its local TV stations in four markets as it begins fulfilling regulatory requirements for its $4.6 billion purchase of Media General.



local tvThe proposed divestitures are just a first step to meet the mandated 39% US television household national ownership cap; the company said that it will be announcing additional station divestitures shortly, especially in overlap markets.

Two of the three proposed transactions represent opportunities for minority television station owners. It will sell KADN-TV (FOX) and KLAF-LD (NBC) in Lafayette (DMA #121) to Bayou City Broadcasting Lafayette (BCBL) for $40 million in cash. BCBL is a minority-led broadcaster owned by affiliates of Bain Capital Credit and Bayou City Broadcasting.

It will also sell KREG-TV in Denver (DMA #17) to Marquee Broadcasting, a women-owned broadcast group that owns three local broadcast stations in Maryland, Georgia and Delaware. KREG-TV currently operates as a satellite station of Nexstar-owned CBS affiliate KREX-TV but upon consummation of the sale will no longer do so.

The third agreement is to sell WCWJ, the CW affiliate serving Jacksonville market (DMA #47), and WSLS-TV, the NBC affiliate serving the Roanoke-Lynchburg, market (DMA #69), to female-owned Graham Media Group, for a total consideration of $120 million.

Nexstar’s planned acquisition of local US TV affiliate powerhouse Media General $4.6 billion was announced in January.