HOLLYWOOD, FLA. — From Huckabee to The Hal Lindsey Report and its signature Praise The Lord, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) has carved an indelible imprint into the nation’s broadcast TV industry. Its stations can be found in practically every market in the U.S.; its programming has served multiple generations of Christians.
Now, TBN is formally saying goodbye to a major pair of TV stations in Ohio, and two significant TV stations in Indiana—one of which covers an Ohio market.
A change to secular programming is on the way, as are respective Channel Sharing Agreements for the four stations.
The stations TBN is saying farewell to are presently assigned by the FCC as follows:
- WDLI-23 in Canton, Ohio, serving the Akron area and Cleveland DMA.
- WSFJ-51 in Newark, Ohio, serving the Columbus DMA.
- WCLJ-27 in Bloomington, Indiana, which serves the Indianapolis DMA.
- WKOI-43 in Richmond, Indiana, which primarily reaches the Dayton, Ohio DMA.
The buyer is Ion Television, which has exercised its option to acquire the Channel Sharing Agreements associated with the four stations — all of which were successful participants in the FCC’s Incentive Auction.
WDLI fetched $31,621,996, while WSFJ earned TBN $16,409,542 for relinquishing that station’s spectrum.
In Indianapolis, some $18,759,808 was pocketed for saying farewell to WCLJ’s spectrum, while Dayton-market WKOI gave TBN $20,037,695 in the auction.
The option exercise notice was submitted to the FCC on Monday (6/11); it is dated May 24 and is signed by Ion Media Networks President Brandon Burgess.
The original option agreement was codified on Nov. 14, 2017. It does not include a dollar figure for the transaction.
WKOI in March confirmed that it will share spectrum with Nexstar Media Group-owned NBC affiliate WDTN-2 in Dayton.
In Indianapolis, WCLJ has already began a CSA with Ion-owned WIPX-63.
The sale of WDLI’s CSA to Ion gives them a duopoly in Cleveland-Akron-Canton as well, as Ion already owns WVPX-23 in the market.
The identity of WSFJ’s CSA partner has not yet been made public.
