Brian and Kevin Lilly are hardly unfamiliar with operating broadcast TV stations in far-flung locales within the United States of America. For years, their Erie, Pa.-headquartered Lilly Broadcasting has been highly active in the Caribbean and, in recent times, operates a low-power TV station in the territory of Guam that’s home to ABC and FOX programming.
Pending FCC approval, Lilly will become the owner of the facilities bringing this programming to the South Pacific.
Lilly is purchasing KTGM-TV in Tamuning, Guam and sibling KEQI-LD in Dededo, Guam from Sorenson Equity Communications.
A $100,000 purchase price has been agreed to by the parties, with a $3,500 deposit made to Sorenson. This would convert an LMA agreement Lilly has with Sorenson to outright ownership of the home of “ABC7” and “FOX Guam”; the two stations share a newsroom under the “Guam News Now” banner.
KEQI, also accessible to MCV Broadband subscribers in the Northern Mariana Islands, is a 20-year-old facility that has been home to FOX programming since Sept. 1, 2005. KTGM dates to 1984 and began airing ABC programming in 1988; Sorenson acquired KTGM in 2005. Both stations were heavily impacted by a typhoon in 2023, which led Lilly Broadcasting to step in and obtain the FOX and ABC affiliations to ensure programming would continue. By February 2025, Sorenson was ready to turn it the licenses for KTGM and KEQI, as a big dip in ad revenue and insurance company battles placed the company in financial stress. Lilly stepped in to buy the stations’ licenses and effectively reconstruct them.
Lilly’s operations include broadcast TV stations in Marquette, Mich.; the Twin Tiers of New York and Pennsylvania; and a formidable Caribbean operation. With the One Caribbean Television channel distributed across the islands, Lilly also brings all of the key five mainland TV networks to the U.S. Virgin Islands and is the provider of CBS, FOX, The CW and COZI TV programming to Puerto Rico.
Lilly competes against Pacific Telestations LLC in Guam, which owns dual NBC and CBS affiliate KUAM-8.
