So says a Bloomberg story: JPMorgan Chase & Co. is arranging a $3.8 billion seven-year term loan and a $300 million five-year revolving credit line to finance its acquisition of TV stations and to refinance debt, sources told the news outlet. The bank is hosting a meeting with lenders on 10/31.
Tribune announced over the summer it was Local TV Holdings LLC’s 19 stations in 16 markets for $2.73 billion in cash. The deal turns Tribune into the country’s largest commercial TV station owner, “with a total of 42 from New York to Los Angeles and Miami to Seattle,” the company said in a 7/1 statement.
Tribune said later that month that it would separate its broadcasting and publishing businesses in two companies by the time the Local TV deal closes. The television side, to be known as Tribune Company, will have a portfolio consisting of 42 stations in 33 markets. Other properties will include WGN Radio, superstation WGN America, Tribune Studios, Tribune Digital Ventures, Tribune Media Services, its equity interests in Classified Ventures, CareerBuilder, and The TV Food Network, and its valuable portfolio of real estate assets.
The other side, Tribune Publishing Company, will O&O the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, The Morning Call and Daily Press.
Here’s a list of the Local TV stations Tribune is buying:
Huntsville, Alabama WHNT-TV CBS
Fort Smith – Fayetteville, AR KFSM-TV CBS; KXNW MyNetworkTV
Denver KDVR Fox
Fort Collins, Colorado KFCT (satellite of KDVR) Fox
Des Moines WHO NBC
Moline, Illinois/Davenport, Iowa WQAD ABC; MyNetworkTV (DT3)
Kansas City WDAF Fox
St. Louis KTVI Fox
High Point – Greensboro -Winston-Salem, WGHP Fox
Cleveland – Akron WJW Fox
Oklahoma City KFOR-TV NBC; KAUT-TV Independent
Scranton – Wilkes Barre, PA WNEP-TV ABC
Memphis WREG-TV CBS
Salt Lake City KSTU Fox
Norfolk – Portsmouth – Newport News WTKR CBS; WGNT The CW
Richmond, Virginia WTVR-TV CBS
Milwaukee WITI Fox
