The ranks of television group ownership expanded by one in November, when new entrant into the Class A business Locuspoint Networks filed with the FCC to acquire a trio of big-market Class A television stations, then later added another. Now it has filed for two more.
The stations are Channel 23 WUDT-CD Detroit MI and Channel 18 WSVT-CD Tampa FL.
In both cases, the seller is Marcus D. Lamb’s Word of God Fellowship, the operator of the widely available religious Daystar Network.
The price for the Detroit station will be $4.5M and Tampa is going for $2.55M. Both are cash deals.
It is the second Tampa acquisition, but the Detroit station will expand the group’s geographic profile, which also includes stations in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Orlando.
The buyer headed by William deKay and Ravi Potherlanka.
The three earlier deals were all accepted by the FCC for filing 11/5/12.
The properties being acquired include:
The San Francisco deal is for Channel 28 KFTL-CD. The price: $6.65M. The seller: Harold Camping’s Family Stations.
In Philadelphia, Locuspoint is picking up Channel 38 WPHA-CD for $6.4M. The seller: Randolph M. Weigner’s D.T.V. LLC.
In Tampa-St. Petersburg, it’s getting Channel 20 WARP-CD for $3.05M. The seller: Randolph M. Weigner’s Sunshine Broadcasting Company Inc.
On 11/19/12, the FCC accepted the next deal, for WRCF-LP Orlando, coming from Charles Namy’s Specialty Broadcasting Corporation for $1.25M.
The total Class A television investment from Locuspoint has now reached $24.4M.
RBR-TVBR observation: We keep hearing that there isn’t likely to be a huge pool of willing participants in the incentive auctions the FCC is planning as part of its effort to encourage wireless broadband. However, it is quite possible that Locuspoint is thinking about participating.
In particular, the pick-up in Detroit could be major: It’s a major US market AND it’s across the water from Canada, meaning that channel availability is impacted not only by crowded airwaves but also by international treaties. Stay tuned.
