Sinclair Broadcast Group is buying a Newport Television station in the San Antonio DMA, but it already has two stations there. That’s where acquisition partner Deerfield Media fits in.
Sinclair’s flagship in the market is Fox KABB. The little sister station is KMYS-TV, a CW outlet. The station coming from Newport as part of Sinclair’s $412.5M multimarket buy is WOAI, the DMA’s NBC home.
What it all adds up to from Sinclair’s standpoint is that KMYS has to go. But not too far.
SBG is selling the station to Deerfield, headed by Stephen P. Mumblow, for $3.55M cash.
Should the FCC’s ownership rules change and allow Sinclair to hold three stations in the same market, it has acquired the option to buy the station back. SBG paid $10K for the option.
And, of course, SBG will have a strong hand in the operation of KMYS going forward. It has a JSA with the station that will send 70% of all net sales revenue (which includes retransmission consent collections) to Deerfield, while SBG keeps the remaining 30%.
SBG will also strike an SSA with the station – and it stands to collect a tidy monthly check from Deerfield for services rendered. The annual fee that SBG will charge is $3,751,000 – which works out to $312,583 per month – and the fee will increase by 5% each year.
