One month ago, the Adell family agreed to part ways with a UHF television station serving the Detroit market that debuted on May 20, 1989. A $75 million price tag was placed on the property, which a Wichita Falls, Tex.-based licensee that is 51% controlled by Board Chairman Nancie Smith and 49% held by President Dennis Thatcher agreed on May 10 to purchase.
That’s unsettling to the pro-cable television services advocacy group American Television Alliance, of which MVPD lobbyist ACA Connects is a member. As such, it has filed comments with the FCC opposing what it calls “the sham sale.”
Why? The buyer, they say, is really the No. 1 licensee of broadcast TV stations in the U.S.
