The last remaining properties tied to Red River Broadcast Co. have been spun, in a transaction that saw Kalil & Co. serve as the exclusive broker in the transaction signed off by Kathy Lau and John Exline.
A contract has been signed and an application is being filed with the FCC for the transfer of FOX affiliate KVRR-15 in Fargo and full-time satellites KJRR-7 in Jamestown, N.D.; KBRR-10 in Thief River Falls, Minn.; and FOX-affiliated sibling KQDS-21 in Duluth, Minn.-Superior, Wisc.
The buyer is the Marcil family’s Forum Communications Company.
The acquisition creates a duopoly in the Fargo-Moorhead market, as Forum is the owner of ABC affiliate WDAY-6. The acquisition of KQDS is possible thanks to the erasure of the FCC’s cross-ownership rule. Forum is owner of the Duluth News Tribune daily newspaper, and KQDS will now be a sibling.
A license renewal and EEO report were submitted last week to the Commission, ahead of the Form 314 filings. The price associated with this transaction is not yet publicly known.
Red River Broadcast Co. and KQDS-TV Corp. are owned by Curtis Squire Inc., a Minnesota-based family holding company headed by Exline. It has held the stations for the past several decades. These are the sellers’ last remaining broadcast assets.
“We considered a number of suitors,” said Kathy Lau, COO of Red River and KQDS. “Forum’s decades-long commitment to local journalism, and their local, family ownership were important to our final decision. At a time of increased consolidation nationally, local
ownership will be a difference maker.”
Forum is a legacy media company serving the Upper Midwest and its roots date to 1878.
Forum COO Bill Rouse said the transaction further strengthens the company’s commitment to providing local news, weather, sports, and information coverage to communities in both North Dakota and Minnesota.
