SBA Confirmed As New Owner of TelevisaUnivision’s Crippled Houston Tower

Updated October 22 at 10:55am Central

Four individuals, including a child, have died as a result of a helicopter accident that led to the collapse to a radio tower in Houston’s Bayou Bend area east of downtown in the Second Ward, crippling broadcasts for multiple TelevisaUnivision properties.

As of Monday morning, local authorities were continuing to investigate how the incident occurred, KPRC-2 reports. The Houston Fire Department confirmed that the helicopter crashed in to the tower used by KLTN-FM 102.9 “Qué Buena” and KAMA-FM 104.9 “Tú Musica” just before 8pm Central on Sunday (10/20).

A TelevisaUnivision spokesperson tells RBR+TVBR that the company no longer owns the structure, and that it was sold in a transaction with several other broadcast towers just one month ago. It did not close who acquired the towers. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” the company spokesperson said. 

A report from TEGNA-owned KHOU-11 in Houston on October 21 revealed that the tower was acquired along with others from TelevisaUnivision by the Steve Bernstein-founded Boca Raton, Fla.-based SBA Communications.

“We are in the process of cooperating with authorities on a full investigation. This is a tragic incident, and we ask everyone to please keep the deceased and their families in their thoughts and prayers,” SBA said in the statement sent to KHOU-11.

Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz told KPRC the private touring helicopter had taken off from Ellington Field and was headed to an unknown destination when it crashed.

The incident led all newscasts and is the top story in today’s Houston Chronicle.

The FAA is investigating; the FCC may be next.

According to KTRK-13, the ABC Owned Stations property, the red aviation obstruction lights at the top of the structure “have a history of not working.” The station’s “SkyEye” reporter Don Armstrong said in his years of flying in helicopters, the radio tower always worried him because the aviation obstruction lighting aren’t always lit — and, he recollects, this happens often.

Further, Armstrong said the background of downtown Houston behind the tower, when traveling from the south, makes the tower lighting very difficult to see if one did not know it was there.

There’s more: Armstrong said the tower lighting was reported as out to the FCC as recently as Thursday.

A broadcast media facility is permitted to notify to authorities of short-term tower lighting issues.

In the video shown above, at least one light on the tower was on; it was not clear if the other lights were operable.

In the SBA statement shared with KHOU-11, the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) filing with the Federal Aviation Administration was directly addressed. SBA confirmed that the Houston tower became its property on September 6. “As part of our standard process for newly acquired sites, SBA ensured a NOTAM was in place for this site in order to exercise caution during the change of ownership while we integrate the site into our Network Operations Center (NOC) for continuous 24/7 monitoring pursuant to FAA and FCC regulations,” SBA said.

With an ongoing investigation led by federal officials, SBA could not disclose additional information.