Multimedia company snares desert Fox

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Gulf-California Broadcast Company, part of the St. Joseph MO-based News-Press & Gazette Company, is buying KECY-TV, the Fox affiliate in the Yuma AZ-El Centro CA DMA, along with an associated Class A station, KDFX-CA playing Fox in the next market over to the west, Palm Springs. The 2M cash deal has been percolating for quite awhile — it’s based on a purchase option dated 3/19/97. KECY-TV airs on Channel 9 out of El Centro CA, and KDFX-CA is on Channel 33 in Indio CA. News-Press owns ABC 42 KESQ-TV in Palm Springs and has several other LPTVs and Class As scattered in the two markets.


TVBR/RBR observation: Neither of these markets are large enough to support a television duopoly, but LPTVs and Class As have no standing when calculating in-market television presence. News-Press should have no trouble getting this through the FCC Media Bureau.