It’s been one of the most-talked-about television deals of 2022. Now, this transaction involving a long-independent UHF station serving the Los Angeles DMA is officially in the hands of a broadcast ministry.
That’s because the deal, which saw Kalil & Co. as the broker, has just closed.
KDOC-56, which uses digital Channel 12, on the VHF band, and enjoys a transmitter in the Mt. Wilson antenna farm high above Southern California, has been sold to Radiant Life Ministries for $41 million.
Closing was confirmed on Thursday (7/28) by Kalil & Co.
With Joe Chautin III of Hardy, Carey, Chautin & Balkin serving as the buyer’s legal counsel, Radiant Life gains a property that today boasts some nine digital multicast channels including Comet, MeTV, Charge! and Local Now. KDOC itself is a rebroadcast partner for KABC-7, with its Eyewitness News telecasts airing on KDOC in the 7pm hour.
A change of its DT1 programming is highly expected, as Radiant Life Ministries’ TCT Network is the broadcast ministry’s primary broadcast channel.
KDOC had been owned by Bert Ellis, who in April 2006 partnered with the owners of the Anaheim Ducks — Henry and Susan Samueli — in acquiring the station from Golden Orange Broadcasting for $149.5 million.
While it would appear that Ellis took a big price cut on KDOC from his original investment, Ellis participated in the FCC’s cash-for-spectrum Broadcast Incentive Auction, which shifted KDOC from UHF to a high-VHF facility. The action gave Ellis $66.65 million, while effectively downgrading the station.
Financially speaking, this led to a total exit loss of $33.4 million, compared to the entry price Ellis and the Samuelis paid some 16 years ago. However, a broker who wished to retain anonymity tells RBR+TVBR KDOC is generating “significant” cash flow. “The worst-case scenario is that Ellis broke even on the investment,” the broker says. “Ellis has wanted to sell for a few years now; we did some high-level due diligence on the station in 2020.” The broker adds that ATSC 3.0 increased the valuation of KDOC. But, the pandemic, a slower-than-anticipated ATSC 3.0 rollout in Southern California, and an uncertain economy caused an adjustment.
Based in Atlanta, Ellis previously founded and served as CEO of Act III Broadcasting, a company that operated between 1986 and 1995 that saw Norman Lear as a controlling investor. It was sold for a half-billion dollars to ABRY Partners/Sullivan Broadcasting. For Bert Ellis, building Ellis Communications and its Titan TV Broadcast Group subsidiary would come next. At its peak, it owned 13 TV stations, two radio stations and Raycom Sports, now within the Gray Television family. The KDOC purchase marked Ellis’ return to TV station ownership, after the prior Ellis Communications assets were sold.
Ellis was also a founding investor and board member in WebMD.
