On Friday, RBR+TVBR shared the details regarding the naming of a veteran media sales executive as VP/GM of a pair of TV stations in Omaha and two stations serving nearby Lincoln, Neb., by Sinclair Inc.
One of the two stations in Nebraska’s biggest market that John Hannon will lead is today operated via an LMA agreement. This will soon change, as Sinclair is moving forward with buying the property outright.
Given the thaw in the local broadcast ownership rules being championed at the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr and a probable erasure of the regulatory policy in the coming months, Sinclair has executed an asset purchase agreement that will create a duopoly in Omaha.
This will see its KPTM-TV “FOX 42,” which airs The CW Network on a digital multicast channel, become a full sibling to KXVO-15, presently the home of the “Roar” diginet on its DT1 signal and two other digital multicast networks.
KXVO is being sold by Mitts Telecasting Company, led by Visalia, Calif.-based Thomas F. Mitts, M.D.
A $650,000 purchase price has been agreed to, with the full amount payable upon closing.
For Sinclair, owning KXVO is important for its ATSC 3.0 rollout efforts. It is one of five Omaha DMA television stations that in April 2022 debuted NEXTGEN TV and, more importantly, is the “lighthouse” for KPTM and Hearst Television-owned ABC affiliate KETV-7, The E.W. Scripps Co.’s CBS affiliated KMTV-3, and Gray Television’s NBC affiliated WOWT-6.
KXVO debuted 30 years ago under Gary Cocola’s ownership and was operated by Pappas Telecasting under a LMA. Mitts in 2000 acquired KXVO from Cocola.
