As Thanksgiving 2025 approached, it became known that Todd Parkin, a former head of sales for the Bally Sports regional sports network, had agreed to acquire four television stations from an affiliated licensee of Standard Media. This followed deals involving stations licensed to Sinclair Inc. and David Cerullo-led Imagicomm Communications.
Now, filings made at the FCC suggest Parkin will not be moving forward with the announced acquisitions.
A series of Transfer of Control filings made late Tuesday (3/24) show multiple stations being transferred back from Parkin’s Rincon Broadcasting Group to Standard Media’s Community News Media LLC.
The filings, made by Lauren Lynch Flick and Scott Flick of Pillsbury Law, show Parkin’s 100% interest in a host of stations heading to CMN, an entity wholly controlled by Soohyung Kim. Overseeing the stations on a day-to-day basis is Deb McDermott.
Officially, an “Equity Acquisition Agreement” was signed by both parties on March 13, and it sees Kim, who heads hedge fund Standard General, pay $116.5 million to acquire Parkin’s stake in the stations.
What does this mean? Rincon has exited from broadcast station ownership as swiftly as he returned to becoming a licensee after some 15 years. In February 2011, Parkin owned broadcast television stations in Savannah, Ga.; and Youngstown, Ohio, and had just agreed to purchase a Topeka, Kansas, property.
Going to Soo Kim are the former Imagicomm stations, once owned by Brian Brady and his Northwest Broadcasting.:
- KAYU-28 in Spokane and its seven TV translator stations
- KFFX-11 in Pendleton, Ore., and simulcast partners KCYU-LD 41 in Yakima, Wash., and KBWU-LD in Richland, Wash., plus K34MZ-D in Prosser, Wash.
- KOKI-23 and KMYT-41 in Tulsa
- KYMA-11 in Yuma, Ariz.-El Centro, Calif.
- WHBQ-13 in Memphis
Additionally, a small group of ex-Standard Media stations are returning to the company:
- WLNE-TV “ABC6” in New Bedford, Ma.
- WDKA “My 49” and KBSI “FOX 23″ in Paducah, Ky.-Cape Girardeau, Mo.
- KLKN-8 in Lincoln, Neb.
The same goes for properties acquired by Rincon for $29.4 million from Sinclair Inc. in a July 2025 announcement:
- WVTV-TV “CW18” in Milwaukee
- WICS-TV “ABC 20” in Springfield, Ill., and semi-satellite WICD-TV in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
- KHQA-TV in Hannibal, Mo., which broadcasts on Channel 7 as a dual ABC and CBS affiliate serving Quincy, Ill.
- KTVO-TV in Ottumwa, Iowa, which also serves Kirksville, Mo., on Channel 3 as a dual ABC and CBS affiliate
What’s next?
Sources tell RBR+TVBR that Soo Kim will not be keeping the stations very long, with a deal with Sinclair Inc. the next move for a man scorned by broadcast TV ownership following his failed attempt to merge Standard General with TEGNA, which needed a controversial minority investment from Apollo Global Management to happen.
