“After careful consideration,” privately held Mission Broadcasting on Wednesday terminated its agreement to acquire a Detroit television station from Adell Broadcasting for $75 million. The President of the company chaired by the widow of founder David Smith offered comments as to why the deal did not go forward.
In a statement, Mission President Dennis Thatcher commented, “Mission is
very disappointed that Detroit’s television viewers will not receive the high-quality programming and public service that Mission’s ownership of WADL would have brought to the market.”
But, is that an accurate statement? Under Mission ownership, a shared services agreement with Nexstar Media Group would have been implemented, with Nexstar providing funding for the deal. All “public service” and programming would have been presented from the nation’s No. 1 owner of broadcast TV stations.
And, that “high-quality programming” would have been largely from The CW Network.
Why Mission did not challenge the FCC’s conditional approval of the WADL purchase, or abide by it, was explained by Thatcher.
“Mission felt compelled to take this action taking into account the Media Bureau’s
recent decision to ‘approve’ Mission’s purchase only if Mission complied with a number of
conditions which fundamentally rewrote the terms of the transaction,” Thatcher said.
This led Mission to notify the Commission that it “rejects” the agency’s conditions and, as such, will bring the deal to non-consummation.
