Ion takes two from rentals to O&Os

WPXL-TV 49 New Orleans and WPXX-TV 50 Memphis are both part of the Ion Media Network, but neither was ever owned by Ion. Both stations have been in an LMA with licensee George S. Flinn Jr.'s Flinn Broadcasting Corporation that dates all the way back to January 1998. That is about to change. Ion will acquire both stations under a pair of transactions with matching bookend terms. Each is priced at 18M, and each includes a $100K non-compete with Flinn, for a total of 36M. The stations were not included in the filing 5/16/07 filing sending Ion stations to an investment group headed by CIG Media LLC, but according to a spokesperson from Ion's legal department, they will be folded into the CIG group.

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