TV Deals

Florida digital TV station sells for $82M.

RBR+TVBR has confirmed that a close partner of Sinclair Broadcast Group has agreed to purchase an unaffiliated UHF station in Dallas that failed to fetch any bids in the FCC's recent Spectrum Auction. The seller of this station now exits TV ownership for good, after previously selling all of its stations to the company now known as TEGNA. Kalil & Co. represented the seller in this TV deal.

Terry Crosby and Randy Nonberg are widely known in the TV industry for their longtime involvement in Hispanic media. Now, the one-time Chairman/CEO and President/COO, respectively, of the former Una Vez Más broadcasting company have opted to sell four TV stations -- including two it acquired in August 2013 from a subsidiary of Viacom. The buyer has emerged in recent weeks as a major player in Hispanic media.

The CW affiliate serving the Duluth, Minn., market, is trading hands. The news comes as the station has been yanked by DISH Network -- a move that's the result of yet another retransmission fee dispute between station owner and a DBS provider.

A digital low power TV station serving Pennsylania's capital has just been sold. It's a deal between a couple of non-profit operators, with the buyer set to install its non-secular programming on the channel.

In March 2015, a collection of low-power TV stations in Texas, Florida and South Carolina was spun by DTV America Corp. for $152,000. Fast-forward five years later, and just one of those 38 properties has fetched a price that is significantly higher than the value of that entire 2015 deal.

Jeff Winemiller's Lowcountry 34 Media has decided to part ways with a low-power TV quartet in the Keystone State. He's earning a handsome sum from the divestment.

It was the third transaction to involve a "unique" group of low-power TV construction permits, given their construction deadline. And, the deal was first announced in late August. Now, Ravi Kapur has completed his acquisition of two digital mini-TV facilities from Mako Communications.

A 5kw Class B AM and its FM translator serving the capital city of Arkansas are being spun. How much is Sima Birach earning from the sale of the facilities, and who is he selling them too? The answer involves a local Hyundai dealer who got into broadcasting two decades ago.

On Thursday, RBR+TVBR was first to report that Bridge News LLC, the parent of the NewsNet digital multicast network using a programming plan akin to CNN Headline News circa 1993, is purchasing a low-power television in the Salt Lake City DMA. Now, Bridge News is agreeing to acquire a second property in the market.

Edge Spectrum has agreed to acquire 196 television station licenses and construction permits in a deal with EICB-TV and Grace Worship Center valued at $72 million. This involves a promissory note that will cover the entire value of a deal that was originally struck 364 days ago.

Educational Media Foundation is at it again: It's purchased yet another FM, and this time it is a silent facility serving a region of inland Southern California sandwiched between Riverside and San Diego. It's our top deal in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY for Oct. 17, 2017.

Gray Television executives are likely displaying a sunny disposition across its Brookhaven headquarters office in northeast Atlanta. The owner of 100+ broadcast TV stations has agreed to acquire a full-power TV station in a market covering a big portion of North Dakota and Minnesota. This deal, if approved, would give Gray control of the MyNetwork TV affiliate, in addition to the DMA's NBC and CBS affiliates. Representing the seller as the broker in this transaction is Kalil & Co. 

In mid-March, Cox Media Group President Kim Guthrie told RBR+TVBR that talk of the company selling off nearly all of its radio stations was unfounded. It turns out that the chatter focused on the wrong media: Cox has confirmed that it "will explore strategic options" for its 14 TV stations, including partnering or merging the stations into a larger company.

In November 2017, the FCC in a 3-2 vote eliminated its cross-ownership rules for newspaper and broadcast media and for radio and TV, respectively. The “Eight-Voices Test” was also erased. Now, one of the biggest TV deals to come since that vote has just been consummated.