In March 2009, Philip J. Lombardo stepped in to help an ailing 24/7 news channel serving Florida’s Suncoast region. Lombardo owned a home in Sarasota, and contacted RBR+TVBR to see how he could connect with the station’s then-General Manager and her husband. That phone call led to an investment in SNN, with a management-led buyout deal working out after a funding snag nearly derailed its sale by The New York Times Co., which owned the Sarasota Herald-Tribune at the time.
Now, Lombardo has signed off on an agreement to sell SNN. The buyer is the No. 1 owner of broadcast TV stations in the U.S.
