As RBR+TVBR first reported on April 8, an entity owned and operated by Webb Collums, who has a strong family history in media in southwest Mississippi and is currently invested in the Mississippi Delta region, agreed to acquire a group of Imagicomm Communications properties as it is winding down its broadcast station ownership era.
That transaction has officially closed, strategic advisor Kalil & Co. has shared.
Deltavision Media is now the owner of properties in Alexandria, La. (KLAX-31); Binghamton (WICZ-40) and Syracuse, N.Y. (WSYT-43/68); Idaho Falls, Idaho (KPVI-6); and Greenville, Miss. stations WABG (ABC), WABG-HD2 (FOX), WNBD (NBC), and WXVT (CBS).
The Greenville market presented a situation where regulatory approval for ownership of a full power television station with two top-four network affiliations on separate multicast streams and two low power television (LPTV) stations, each with a top-four network affiliation, was necessary.
That led the FCC to seek public input on the proposed deal. But, the FCC had no qualms, noting that the potential public interest benefits of permitting Deltavision to own the stations with the top-four network affiliations intact outweigh any potential harms. Therefore, application of the Top-Four Prohibition is not warranted in this instance, Acting Media Bureau Chief Erin Boone declared.
Importantly, the application was unopposed.
How much did Collums’ group pay for the television stations?
A $28 million purchase price was agreed to, with $1.4 million held in escrow by Kalil & Co.
