Lenard Liberman Completes His Boricua Univision Spin Snag

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In late August, RBR+TVBR first reported on the reemergence of a Hispanic media company founder who lost control of the entity that wound up in bankruptcy protection, only to reemerge under a new name under CEO Peter Markham.


LBI Media founder Lenard Liberman, for a song, was snagging required divestitures tied to the arrangement that gave majority ownership of Univision Communications to private investment firm SearchLight Capital Partners and ForgeLight, an operating and investment company focused on media and consumer technology.

That spinoff deal, brokered by Kalil & Co., has now closed.

A fully fresh start has come for Liberman, who was stripped of his CEO duties at LBI, parent of Liberman Broadcasting. He was replaced by Peter Markham ahead of a wholesale company name change to Estrella Media.

Now, the assets that had housed Univision Puerto Rico are his.

Liberman Media Group LLC, which like Estrella is based in Burbank, Calif., purchased the following stations:

  • WLII-11 in Caguas, with a signal covering the San Juan metropolitan area
  • WOLE-12 in Aguadilla, serving the western side of Puerto Rico
  • WSUR-9 in Ponce, which serves the southern side of Puerto Rico
  • W21CX-D, a digital translator in Mayaguez, in the southwest tip of Puerto Rico

WOLE and WSUR are full-time satellites of WLII.

The total purchase price? Officially, it is $1 million, with a $100,000 escrow payment made.

However, language in the agreement suggests that the purchase price could inflate to roughly $2.5 million, given operating income and expenses attributable to the stations.

Still, that raised eyebrows among longtime Puerto Rico market observers for its ostensibly low valuation.

One market veteran was shocked, noting that the transaction should be between $20 million and $25 million. A source close to the matter tells RBR+TVBR the deal was “very complicated,” and involved four days of refining an agreement.

That said, another longtime Puerto Rico media figure points to the decision by Univision Puerto Rico to cease local newscasts some five years ago, putting its news efforts into WKAQ-AM 580. This, the source said, resulted in a sharp revenue decline, with dollars four-to-five times lower than they were some seven to eight years ago.

Then, there is the U.S. Department of Justice. In order for ForgeLight and Searchlight to complete its majority take of Univision, it had to sell the Univision Puerto Rico TV station and have a non-affiliated entity take possession of what would become a Univision network affiliate. The reason? ForgeLight and Searchlight have attributable interest in Hemisphere Media Group, owner of long-successful WAPA-4 in San Juan. ForgeLight/Searchlight also have a stake in the island’s major MVPD, Liberty, although that is not a key factor tied to the Univision Puerto Rico divestment need.

This explains why Univision is not retaining the Univision Puerto Rico intellectual property and placing it on the other full-power TV facility it owns in the U.S. commonwealth: WSTE-7, now branded as “TeleIsla” and airing infomercials. Univision acquired that property, once “SuperSiete” under Malrite Communications ownership, in 2007 from then-owner Jerry Hartman.

WSTE will, thus, retain its current programming while Liberman will now own Univision Puerto Rico via an affiliation agreement.

And, the continued ownership of WSTE suggests the Univision Radio combo of Spanish Talk WKAQ-AM and Latin Top 40 WKAQ-FM “KQ105” won’t be changing anytime soon.

Meanwhile, what has Lenard Liberman been up to since his exit from the company he once led?

He’s leading Grupo Estrella LLC, which is very different from Estrella Media, the company that succeeded LBI Media. It’s a financial services firm, offering lending services via EstrellaCash.com.

And … among the familiar faces pitching its services is Don Cheto — the longtime morning host at the radio station that launched LBI Media, “Qué Buena” in Los Angeles.

Liberman confirmed via e-mail to RBR+TVBR in August 2020 that no programming changes are in the works for WLII and its satellite siblings. “Univision and UniMás are great networks and my particular specialty in producing television programming fits nicely with the Puerto Rico market,” he said.