TV Deals

A newly formed company serving a market that's home to Purdue University is now the owner of one of the nation's newest ABC affiliates. It's a formality, really: This company signed on the station in July 2017, and it has been owned by an affiliated operation. Now, Bill Christian and Mike Reed are simply making a bookkeeping change with the FCC.

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.

A full-power TV station serving the city of Lubbock, Texas has just been sold. As a result, the CW Network affiliate for this Lone Star market will soon be in the hands of a crosstown company the owner already enjoys a relationship with. It's a transaction that could be the result of relaxed FCC ownership restrictions recently approved by the Ajit Pai-led Commission.

On February 13, RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY reported on the acquisition of three full-power and two LPTV stations in Wyoming from Mark III Media. The purchase contract contains a requirement that Gray divest that station’s license to a third party promptly, and Gray said it would donate this station’s license to a non-profit entity. That's just happened, with the property going directly from Mark III to an institution of higher learning.

In the Hawaiian islands, KWHE-14 in Honolulu is known for its "ohana" television offerings. Found on Oceanic Spectrum and Hawaiian Telecom systems across the state, KWHE is known for its mix of classic syndicated family-oriented sitcoms and a slate of religious and ministry programming, including The Dr. Sumrall Teaching Series. Could changes be on the way for KWHE? No. But, there may be some changes at a simulcast partner based on the island of Maui, which is being sold by KWHE's parent.

There is one company that stands out from the pack with respect to TV station acquisitions. Since the end of the FCC's spectrum auction, the Philip Falcone-led HC2 Holdings has been rapidly snapping up television properties — the majority of them low power properties. In the latest deal to involve HC2, a Class A facility in Tennessee that is presently silent is being snapped up.

With Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media agreeing to “resubmit or amend” their applications filed with the FCC in connection with MB Docket No. 17-179 — the formal name given to the review of Sinclair’s planned merger with Tribune, there's already some buzz regarding what changes have been made. A look at the FCC's database today suggests that it is abandoning its plan to own two of the top four stations in Pennsylvania's state capital.

Here's a transaction that involves an otter. That's the tongue-in-cheek branding for a low-power television station serving the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz market, which has just been sold in a deal to an entity named Diya TV. It's the top deal in detail featured in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY for March 5, 2018.

CBS affiliate WJAX-47 in Jacksonville has enjoyed close ties with the market's FOX affiliate, WFOX-30, for a decade. It's the result of a sale of WJAX, formerly known as WTEV, by Clear Channel that closed in March 2008.  Since July 2012, Cox Media Group has operated the two stations, with WJAX owned by Bayshore Television — a partner to CMG that would allow the company to avoid breaking the FCC's Top Four rule while maintaining operational control via a shared services and sales agreement. Now, Bayshore is selling WJAX. Nothing is poised to change for viewers, for staff, or for Cox.

For media brokers, there's been perhaps no more prolific buyer of radio stations in recent years than Educational Media Foundation, the operator of the Christian Contemporary Music KLOVE and Air1 noncommercial networks. In the TV world, one entity has emerged with a similarly voracious appetite for properties. It's the Philip Falcone-led HC2 Holdings, and the company that's buying Azteca América just landed another low-power TV station.

A Class D AM serving evangelical Latinos in one of South Carolina's biggest markets is trading hands. Up the road in North Carolina's Triad region, a major owner of broadcast TV stations closes on its purchase of a CSA agreement tied to the market's CW affiliate. And, in Austin, Univision has closed on its purchase of a LPTV station. We have the details in the Weekend Edition of RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY.

The company formerly known as Gannett has formally closed on its acquisition of an AM/FM combo — and a highly coveted CBS-TV affiliate with The CW network on a DT multicast channel — in "America's Finest City." For the everyday consumer of these stations, there's no noticeable difference from yesterday.

A low-power VHF TV operation in a small Deep South town has just been sold. It's the lone deal up for discussion in a soft day at the FCC in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY for Wednesday, Feb. 14.

Halfway between the Walt Whitman Bridge and the Steel Pier alongside the Atlantic City Boardwalk is the town of Hammonton, New Jersey. It is here where a digital Class A TV station is being sold. This station debuted 32 years ago and in recent years has focused on the Spanish-speaking audience found in the Vineland, N.J. area in addition to across the Delaware Valley and Southern New Jersey. Now, this station is being sold. The buyer? Philip Falcone's HC2 Station Group.

Gray Television executives are likely displaying a sunny disposition across its Brookhaven headquarters office in northeast Atlanta. The owner of 100+ broadcast TV stations has agreed to acquire a full-power TV station in a market covering a big portion of North Dakota and Minnesota. This deal, if approved, would give Gray control of the MyNetwork TV affiliate, in addition to the DMA's NBC and CBS affiliates. Representing the seller as the broker in this transaction is Kalil & Co.