It’s hardly surprising that Local TV LLC was a bidder for the nine Fox stations that News Corporation put up for sale in June (6/14/07 TVBR #116). What is surprising is that, due to the current tight credit market, Local may have been the only bidder. Is a deal going to be announced soon?
When News Corp. announced that it wanted to divest these nine stations there was lots of interest from private equity firms wanting to get into television. But that was before the credit markets took a big hit from the subprime debacle. Reuters reported that when it came time to bid this week, Local, backed by Oak Hill Capital Partners, was the only firm to submit a bid, reportedly in the 1.1-1.2 billion range. If Local, run by Randy Michaels, is the buyer, it would greatly expand the group begun by acquiring the former New York Times stations and move it up considerably in market size. Of the nine markets offered by News Corp., Local is in only one, Memphis. It doesn’t look like a real duopoly is doable there, so we would likely find out if Michaels has lined up a virtual duopoly partner to take the excess station.
CALLS |
Ch. |
Market |
Rank |
Rev.’06 (000) |
WJW-TV |
8 |
Cleveland-Akron, OH |
17 |
72400 |
KDVR-TV |
31 |
Denver, CO |
18 |
44900 |
KTVI-TV |
2 |
St. Louis, MO |
21 |
39000 |
WDAF-TV |
4 |
Kansas City, KS-MO |
31 |
42900 |
WITI-TV |
6 |
Milwaukee, WI |
34 |
34900 |
KSTU-TV |
13 |
Salt Lake City, UT |
35 |
29200 |
WBRC-TV |
6 |
Birmingham, AL |
40 |
38500 |
WGHP-TV |
8 |
Grnsboro-HighPoint-Winston Salem, NC |
46 |
23950 |
WHBQ-TV |
13 |
Memphis, TN |
47 |
22000 |
|
|
Total |
|
347750 |
TVBR/RBR observation: Back when these stations were put on the market we had envisioned a higher price tag. But we have since learned that these stations do not have the same sort of high margins that Fox is known for in its largest markets. That could well explain why News Corporation decided to put them up for sale.