In September 2012, Salem, N.H.-based John Viall Jr. — a former VP/Engineering and Operations at the former LIN Media since January 2003 — acquired the facilities housing the MyNetworkTV and CW Network affiliates serving the vast Albuquerque DMA.
Viall’s Tamer Media paid $17.3 million for the stations, and carved out an option agreement that allowed the company buying LIN Media, Nexstar Media Group, to eventually take on ownership of the properties.
On August 7, Nexstar CFO Tom Carter pulled the trigger by codifying an assignment agreement that sees the properties’ sale — to a larger Nexstar Shared Services Agreement partner.
The consideration for the 2012 option is a mere $17,325.
But, that’s just a sliver of the opportunities Mission Broadcasting will now have, as it is poised to become the licensee of KASY-50, the MyNetworkTV affiliate in Albquerque; and Santa Fe-licensed CW affiliate KWBQ-19. Also in the deal is KWBQ’s full-time satellite station, KRWB-21.
The stations will continue to receive master control, technical, engineering and accounting services from Nexstar. Programming, advertising sales and all retransmission consent had been handled by Tamer and will now go to Mission, led by President Dennis Thatcher.
Mission was founded in 1996 with a mission. It “acquires, develops, and operates television stations.” That said, it has a SSA with Nexstar for every station it owns.
A Shared Services Agreement differs from a Joint Sales Agreement, which is also commonly seen in instances where local ownership caps prevent outright ownership of a media property.
For KASY and KWBQ, nothing will change from a programming perspective, and all SSA-delivered services will remain as is. As such, for Nexstar the deal is fairly seamless. Nexstar owns KRQE-13 in Albuquerque — a CBS affiliate that in January 2017 added FOX affiliation to its DT2 signal. FOX had previously been on KASA-2, now a Telemundo affiliate.
Serving as Mission’s legal counsel in this transaction is Greg Masters at Wiley.
