Deals with Lockwood Broadcast Group for a television station in Knoxville TN, and with LIN Media for television stations in Dayton OH and Green Bay WI have reached the finish line. The combined value of the sales was $17.1M.
The sale of WBXX to Lockwood, using licensee name Knoxville TV, was filed with the FCC 2/4/11 and was valued at $5.6M. Broker Brian Cobb of CobbCorp acted on behalf of the seller on this one. For Lockwood, it marked the fourth station in the group.
The two stations going to LIN were an outgrowth of an LMA/option between LIN and ACME. The stations include WBDT in Dayton OH in a deal valued at $9.2M, and WCWF in Green Bay, valued at $2.3M. The contracts and applications were filed with the FCC on 9/20/10. Both stations are CW affiliates. In Dayton, LIN already has NBC WDTN, and in Green Bay, it has Fox WLUK.
Doug Gealy, ACME’s President and CEO, commented, “The completion of these three sales was an important step in unlocking value and liquidity for our shareholders, and we expect to announce a return of capital to our shareholders in an amount equal to a meaningful percentage of these net cash proceeds within the next 30 days. We will also continue to look for ways to prudently monetize the rest of our assets.”
ACME retains a pair of television stations in Albuquerque NM and one in Madison WI. LIN, with a CBS and a Fox affiliate in place, has an SSA with the two Albuquerque stations, which carry CW and MNT programming.
