New Vision emerges from Chapter 11

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Just 80 days after filing a pre-packaged Chapter 11 proceeding, New Vision Television has emerged from Federal Bankruptcy Court debt free. Of course, the former creditors now own the company’s equity.


“New Vision’s restructuring process was extraordinarily efficient – about ten weeks from start to finish,” said Jason Elkin, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of New Vision.  “Among the major TV broadcasting groups, we are the first to emerge from this court-supervised process.  With the elimination of all $400 million of our historical debt, New Vision now has one of the strongest balance sheets in our sector.  Being debt-free will enable us to invest in our people, our product and complementary acquisitions to drive New Vision forward, while our competitors continue to focus on daily liquidity and covenant compliance,” he added.

Throughout the restructuring process, New Vision says it was able to maintain all jobs and benefits for its employees, provide advertisers with the same customer service they have always experienced, and continue to invest in best-in-class local news coverage and other programming for viewers.

As previously reported, the restructuring didn’t change ownership much as far as attribution at the FCC is concerned. The HBK hedge fund, which had over 96% of the voting interest before, now has 100%. But its equity interest has changed a lot. The company’s lenders, led by UBS, converted about $370 million in loans to non-voting equity, 99% of equity, leaving HBK with 1%. Other loans were wiped out.

Here if the New Vision portfolio of stations:

Major Network Affiliates:
KOIN Portland, OR (CBS)
WIAT Birmingham, AL (CBS)
KSNW Wichita, KS (NBC)
KHON Honolulu, HI (FOX)
Hawaii’s CW 93 Honolulu, HI (CW)
WJCL Savannah, GA (ABC)
WTGS Savannah, GA (FOX)*
WKBN Youngstown, OH (CBS)
WYTV Youngstown, OH (ABC)*
WYFX Youngstown, OH (FOX)
KSNT Topeka, KS (NBC)
KTMJ Topeka, KS (FOX)
KIMT Mason City, IA (CBS)
KBNZ Bend, OR (CBS)

*Stations not licensed to New Vision, but to which New Vision provides services under joint sales and shared services agreements.

Additional non-affiliate stations:
Untamed Sports TV Birmingham, AL
MyYTV Youngstown, OH
MyYTV Mason City, IA