TV Deals

The rapidly growing company led by Philip Falcone in June 2018 nabbed a full-power UHF station that as of late has been airing This TV programming for viewers in eastern Iowa. The transaction is now complete for HC2 Holdings. 

In December 2016, a broadcast TV company led by Louis Wall agreed to acquire a low-power television construction permit in Lake Charles, La., for $80,000, from DTV America Corp. Today, that facility at Channel 19 is a MeTV network affiliate under the calls KWWE-LD. Now, SagamoreHill is getting another construction permit in the Louisiana market.

Earlier this year, Laurence Zimmerman-led Landover Wireless drafted two transactions that saw the transfer of control of unbuilt LPTVs to Jeff Winemiller and his Lowcountry 34 Media. Now, Zimmerman's group is spinning an unbuilt LPTV property in Idaho. The buyer could use it to expand the markets where Evoca is being launched.

In late July, the FCC was asked to approve the sale of seven TV stations and four radio stations across five markets by Waypoint Media and related entity Vision Communications. The transaction, which saw Kalil & Co. serve as the broker, has now closed, making Coastal Television Broadcasting Group LLC the owner.

With Dick Harlow as COO and Allen Dick as CEO, Dick Broadcasting has been operating 18 Alpha Media properties via a LMA ever since a transaction first announced in September 2017. That's about to change, however, as the FCC has received freshly signed Asset Purchase Agreement paperwork seeking regulatory approval of the long-planned transaction.

Near Creech Air Force Base, due north of Las Vegas on U.S. 95, listeners to a noncommercial FM on March 21 experienced a programming change. On that date, Las Vegas Public Radio completed the initial conversion of what was KQQY-FM to KJPT, at 90.1 MHz. Now, paperwork has been submitted with the FCC that seeks its approval of the station's sale.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is buying a Newport Television station in the San Antonio DMA, but it already has two stations there. That’s where acquisition...

Fresh details were revealed Wednesday regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group's blockbuster merger plans with Tribune Media, thanks to the official filing of a flurry of Form 315 applications with the FCC. While the deal could only be made possible with the pending reinstatement of the FCC's "UHF discount," Sinclair revealed that it could divest stations in no less than 10 different markets.

There are plenty of concerns surfacing across the nation about the proposed merger between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media. The latest entity to voice its opposition to the deal is an association representing some 800 of the smallest, mostly rural cable operators scattered throughout the U.S. 

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.

Philip Falcone's HC2 Station Group has just filed its third Form 345 FCC filing this week, and this time around the owner of the Azteca América broadcast TV network is acquiring a licensed and silent LPTV facility in a big Midwestern market. An escrow deposit has already been made.

No less than three deals involving TV stations in Wyoming are being filed with the FCC and are expected to appear in the CDBS this week. The trio of transactions saw Kalil & Co. serve as the exclusive broker in each of these station trades.

In recent years, tuning to Channel 32 in Columbus, Ohio, would have yielded the Movies! affiliate, with the Weigel diginet siblings Heroes & Icons and Start TV networks on its DT signals. Now, the low-power TV station is being sold to a religious broadcaster that's held a Time Brokerage Agreement for the facility since 2019.

Former HC2 Holdings leader Philip Falcone has emerged as the head of a new entity seeking to build a collection of low-power TV stations as part of a spectrum play. He's signed off on several deals across 2021. Now, he's putting his signature on an asset purchase agreement involving a California property.

Its assets include NPR Member station WFYI-FM and PBS Member station WFYI-20 in Indianapolis. Soon, it will be adding a low-power TV station to its property collection — thanks to a donation being made by a prolific trader of late in the LPTV arena.