In early December 2023, RBR+TVBR was first to share with readers full details surrounding the sale of KVRR-15 in Fargo and full-time satellites KJRR-7 in Jamestown, N.D. and KBRR-10 in Thief River Falls, Minn.; and FOX-affiliated sibling KQDS-21 in Duluth, Minn.-Superior, Wisc., to Coastal Television.
It was a fresh deal, brokered by Kalil & Co., that replaced the station’s failed spin to Forum Communications Company, which the FCC did not approve after 18 months over local ownership concentration concerns.
There was no such worry on Take Two for the seller.
Coastal Television Broadcasting Group LLC officially closed Monday on its purchase of the TV properties from Red River Broadcast Co. and KQDS-TV Corp. Those entities are owned by Curtis Squire Inc., a Minnesota-based family holding company headed by John Exline that has held the stations for the past several decades.
With the sale, Red River and KQDS-TV are no longer owners of broadcast media properties.
And, it brings bigger opportunities for Georgia-based Coastal Television, owned and operated by founder and CEO Bill Fielder. Coastal owns and/or provides advertising sales and other services to 19 television stations, including properties in Mississippi, Alaska,
Tennessee, New York, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota and Minnesota.
