More than two years after a deal was struck that would have transferred a full-power MyNetwork TV affiliate in Arkansas’ state capital and its low-power simulcast serving the market to an affiliate of The Pollack Companies, the transaction has finally closed.
In January 2016, I-Square Media LLC entered into “a binding Letter of Intent” for the sale of the stations to LR Telecasting LLC (LRT) for $2.5 million.
I-Square is owned by Shash Goyal, Ladly Abraham and Raj Chakka, and in September 2016 the company closed on its purchase of KMYA-49 in Camden, Ark., a suburb of Little Rock, and KMYA-LP, on Channel 47 in Sheridan, Ark., from KMYA LLC.
But, in March 2016, Marshall Media, a 10% interest holder of SSN Funding, formally asked the petition to put a stop to the sale.
Why? “The proposed assignment of the stations, if consummated, [would] result in the ultra viresassignment of the stations for which [I-Square] has no authority,” Marshall Media claimed.
What does that mean? Marshall Media claimed that during the pendency of the 2014 Application, I-Square on May 9 of that year entered into a separate agreement with Rock City Media LLC.
This deal, Marshall says, was done as “evidenced by the flow of [New Market Tax Credit (NMTC)] funds from Arkansas Capital Corporation and the Heartland Renaissance Fund.” Marshall argues that they wouldn’t have released the NMTC funds to I-Square “without [I-Square’s] certification that it sold the stations to Rock City Media.”
Therefore, it was Marshall Media’s contention that the 2016 Application “should be denied or dismissed because [I-Square] does not have the requisite authority to seek [Commission consent] for the assignment of the stations’ licenses to LR Telecasting.”
This resulted in an April 2016 Opposition filing from I-Square, which contested Marshall’s petition on procedural grounds. LRT stepped in with a November 2016 submission of comments seeking dismissal of Marshall’s petition.
At the end of the day, the FCC’s Video Division ruled, “despite the private contractual dispute,” granting the application for the transfer of the stations’ licenses “would be in the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Marshall Media’s informal objection fails to meet part one of the Commission’s two-part test because it did not provide the Division with specific allegations of fact sufficient to show that granting the application would be prima facie inconsistent with the public interest.”
LR Telecasting is principally owned by William Pollack and is based in Memphis. Pollack owns the ABC and MeTV affiliates in Alexandria, La., and AM radio stations in Evanston, Elgin and Aurora, Illinois; in and Las Vegas. His companies also own 22 movie screens in Nebraska, Arkansas and Missouri.
The exclusive broker for this transaction is Bill Cate of Media Services Group.
The deal was originally consummated for $2.75 million.
KMYA-DT and KMYA-LP were once owned by Larry Morton and Gregory Fess; they acquired the facilities as part of a four-station $1 million deal with Hallmark National Mortgage Corp. in November 2011 and is the entity that sold the stations to I-Square.
