Lenard Liberman’s Back. This Time, It’s In Puerto Rico

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In October 2019, the end of LBI Media and associated entity Liberman Broadcasting came, as LBI successfully completed a court-approved reorganization plan and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A fully fresh start came for the company co-founded by Lenard Liberman, as he was stripped of his CEO duties and replaced by Peter Markham ahead of a wholesale company name change to Estrella Media.


Now, Liberman has returned as a broadcast station owner. And, it involves La Isla del Encanto — Puerto Rico — and broker Kalil & Co.


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It also involves Univision Holdings, which will soon see majority ownership from private investment firm SearchLight Capital Partners and ForgeLight, an operating and investment company focused on media and consumer technology.

With the Univision transaction awaiting final regulatory approval, Univision Puerto Rico — a subsidiary of Univision Holdings — is being divested as part of the SearchLight/ForgeLight plan of action as Univision’s forthcoming owner.

The buyer is a new entity wholly controlled by Liberman taking the name Liberman Media Group LLC. Its address reflects a nondescript warehouse in Burbank, Calif., on a street known for various production studios — walking distance to Burbank Airport.

A 50-page asset purchase agreement dated August 24 was posted to the FCC’s CDBS on Wednesday (8/26). The total purchase price? Officially, it is $1 million, with a $100,000 escrow payment made.

However, language in the agreement suggests that the purchase price could inflate to roughly $2.5 million, given operating income and expenses attributable to the stations.

Fred Kalil of Kalil & Co. served as the exclusive broker in this transaction.

The properties Liberman is obtaining are:

  • WLII-11 in Caguas, with a signal covering the San Juan metropolitan area
  • WOLE-12 in Aguadilla, serving the western side of Puerto Rico
  • WSUR-9 in Ponce, which serves the southern side of Puerto Rico
  • W21CX-D, a digital translator in Mayaguez, in the southwest tip of Puerto Rico

WOLE and WSUR are full-time satellites of WLII, which was “TeleOnce” from 1986 until Univision took control of the properties in 2002, through a LMA with Raycom Media. A purchase came in 2005, giving Univision ownership of WSUR and WLII. WOLE came in December 2018 in a $3.67 million transaction with Western Broadcasting Corp.

As news of the purchase by Lenard Liberman reached Puerto Rico’s media leaders, questions immediately arose as to the value of the transaction. One market veteran was shocked, noting that the transaction should be between $20 million and $25 million. A source close to the matter tells RBR+TVBR the deal was “very complicated,” and involved four days of refining an agreement.

That said, another longtime Puerto Rico media figure points to the decision by Univision Puerto Rico to cease local newscasts some five years ago, putting its news efforts into WKAQ-AM 580. This, the source said, resulted in a sharp revenue decline, with dollars four-to-five times lower than they were some seven to eight years ago.

Then, there is the U.S. Department of Justice. In order for ForgeLight and Searchlight to complete its majority take of Univision, it had to sell the Univision Puerto Rico TV station and have a non-affiliated entity take possession of what would become a Univision network affiliate. The reason? ForgeLight and Searchlight have attributable interest in Hemisphere Media Group, owner of long-successful WAPA-4 in San Juan. ForgeLight/Searchlight also have a stake in the island’s major MVPD, Liberty, although that is not a key factor tied to the Univision Puerto Rico divestment need.

This explains why Univision is not retaining the Univision Puerto Rico intellectual property and placing it on the other full-power TV facility it owns in the U.S. commonwealth: WSTE-7, now branded as “TeleIsla” and airing infomercials. Univision acquired that property, once “SuperSiete” under Malrite Communications ownership, in 2007 from then-owner Jerry Hartman.

WSTE will, thus, retain its current programming while Liberman will now own Univision Puerto Rico via an affiliation agreement.

And, the continued ownership of WSTE suggests the Univision Radio combo of Spanish Talk WKAQ-AM and Latin Top 40 WKAQ-FM “KQ105” won’t be changing anytime soon.

Meanwhile, what has Lenard Liberman been up to since his exit from the company he once led?

He’s leading Grupo Estrella LLC, which is very different from Estrella Media, the company that succeeded LBI Media. It’s a financial services firm, offering lending services via EstrellaCash.com.

And … among the familiar faces pitching its services is Don Cheto — the longtime morning host at the radio station that launched LBI Media, “Qué Buena” in Los Angeles.

Liberman confirmed via e-mail to RBR+TVBR that no programming changes are in the works for WLII and its satellite siblings. “Univision and UniMás are great networks and my particular specialty in producing television programming fits nicely with the Puerto Rico market,” he said.