Bayou City Broadcasting Evansville Inc, has entered into an agreement to buy the CBS affiliate WEVV in Evansville, Indiana from Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. for $18.6 million. Kalil & Co. is the exclusive broker for this deal.
Bayou City Broadcasting Evansville will be managed by Bayou City Broadcasting, LLC, a Houston-based company owned and operated by DuJuan McCoy, President and CEO. McCoy entered the ownership ranks in 2008 when he purchased seven TV stations including two Fox affiliates in Abilene and San Angelo, Texas from Sage Broadcasting. In December 2012, BCB divested those stations to London Broadcasting with intentions of parlaying his efforts into larger markets.
Said McCoy: “I am very excited to be back in the ownership ranks and operating TV stations again, particularly in my home state of Indiana. WEVV is a great opportunity for me and will serve as a platform acquisition for additional BCB properties in the very near future. Also, my sincere gratitude goes out to Mr. Perry Sook for making a concerted effort to promote diversity in media ownership by agreeing to sell WEVV to Bayou City Broadcasting Evansville. His efforts should be commended.”
McCoy has been a television broadcaster for 25 years, is a member of the NAB Television Board of Directors and was a 2007-08 participant in the NAB-Broadcast Leadership Program (BLT), a 10 month Executive style MBA program for aspiring broadcast owners. He also serves on several NAB committees and is an Associate Dean of the NAB-Broadcast Leadership Training Program based in DC.
The transaction is subject to FCC and DOJ approval and is expected to close prior to the end of the year.
Noted Marci Ryvicker, Wells Fargo Securities Senior Analyst: “Last night, post the close (8/4), NXST announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell WEVV to Bayou City Broadcasting Evansville, Inc. (BCBE), for $18.6MM. Recall the original CCA deal, which included the purchase of 19 stations in 10 markets for $270MM, and has been pending since its announcement last year on 4/24. While this divestiture is subject to FCC approval, it will bring the overall transaction into compliance with the DOJ and will release the pending transaction from ”hold pending divestiture”. Further, NXST expects to complete all announced pending transactions in 2014.
We don’t expect the restructuring to have a material impact on the original economics of the deal given the relatively small size of the sale. Further, recall NXST’s plans to sell 3 Fox affiliates in Shreveport, LA, Odessa-midland, TX, and Quad Cities, IA to its newly formed minority owned media entity, Marshall Broadcasting Group. Because we expect the financials to remain consolidated for these stations, NXST will be able to retain the majority of its EBITDA.
BOTTOM LINE: Given the FCC’s mandate to promote diversity in the market place, we are not surprised to see more collaboration between NXST and minority led broadcasters in order to get deals through. We are encouraged to see that NXST’s largest pending deal is close to being approved and view this restructuring as a positive.”
