LIN Television Corporation, which has been providing management and other services for several ACME Communications television stations, has exercised an option to purchase two of them, in Dayton OH and Green Bay-Appleton WI. Both will form duopolies, one of which will require a failed station waiver from the FCC.
In Dayton, LIN will acquire CW WBDT, which will pair up with its NBC WDTN,
In Green Bay-Appleton, LIN will acquire CW WIWB, to pair up with its Fox WLUK – this is the station that will need the FCC waiver in order for LIN to own it.
The price for the pair of stations is $11.5M.
ACME’s Doug Gealy commented, “We are delighted that LIN has exercised its option for our Dayton and Green Bay stations. The proposed transactions conform with ACME’s plans for the ultimate disposition of all its stations and will ultimately redound to the benefit of our shareholders. Upon the completion of these two transactions, and upon our sale of any LIN stock offered as part of the consideration, we plan to distribute any excess cash to our shareholders. In the meantime, we continue to pursue other opportunities to monetize our remaining assets.”
LIN also provides services for ACME in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe DMA, where its stations include CBS KRQE and Fox KASA, which look out for ACME little sisters CW KWBQ and MNT KASY.
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