Perry Sook’s Nexstar Broadcasting Group will be the owner and/or operator of 65 broadcast television stations once it closes on the acquisition of CBS affiliates in the Green Bay-Appleton WI and Marquette MI Nielsen DMAs. The seller is Liberty Media Corporation.
The stations are WFRV-TV in Green Bay and WJMN-TV in Marquette. The price will be $20M, with $2.5M of that in the form of stock that will go to an affiliate of the seller.
Sook commented, “The acquisition of WFRV and WJMN highlights Nexstar’s role in the industry as a leading consolidator of stations in mid-sized markets through accretive transactions. Similar to other Nexstar transactions, the acquisition allows the Company to expand and diversify its station portfolio and presents a new opportunity for the Company to leverage its intellectual capital and operating management. In addition, entering Wisconsin and Michigan represent a natural complement to our existing Midwest operations. “
He added, “The purchase price for the two stations is less than five times the average 2010/2011 pro-forma projected cash flow. Under Nexstar’s ownership both stations will realize additional retransmission revenues as well as synergistic operating improvements, and on a pro-forma basis the acquisition will be immediately accretive to results and de-leveraging on a debt-to- cash-flow basis. We’ll also bring effective online marketing solutions to local and national advertisers through the launch of Nexstar’s e-Media and mobile offerings through our proven Community Portal model.”
The stations come at a considerable discount from the amount Liberty is believed to have paid for them. They came from CBS Corporation in a deal that included a stock buyback, and were valued at $64M in an RBR-TVBR Transaction Digest item. The Liberty/CBS deal was filed with the FCC 2/13/07.
