The following is an encore presentation of a Media Information Bureau column that first appeared in RBR+TVBR on May 16, 2012.
By John M. Pelkey
The FCC assignment application has at long last received final Commission approval. The purchase agreement says that the closing is to occur ten days later. As the appointed closing deadline approaches, however, the parties come to grips with the grim reality that the closing date cannot be met. The transmitter site is found to be harboring PCBs and one of the guy wires is anchored on a neighbor’s property. The landlord of the building housing the studios refuses to grant its permission to the Seller’s assignment of the lease to the Buyer. The delay caused by these developments threatens to blow up the deal.
What should the parties have done differently to have avoided the delay?