Travel on N.Y. Route 7 an hour to the east of Albany, N.Y.’s airport, cross the border into Vermont, and you’ll find yourself on State Route 9, in the village of Bennington.
Here, a low-power TV station has been sold. The buyer just happens to be an individual that has been buying up LPTV facilities over the last three years, perhaps as an outlet for content being produced from New Haven-based entity The Intrigue Group.
What’s intriguing about this deal is what this mini-facility will be used for. All signs point to a Albany-Schenectady-Troy DMA offering for Frank Copsidas.
Copsidas has created a new licensee, “NYTV LLC,” that is agreeing to acquire W21CQ — once a repeater for Channel 3 in Burlington.
Years ago, plans had the station to move into Albany, but the Commission never approved it.
Now, it looks like the Albany shift is about to happen, with W21CQ being acquired from D.T.V. LLC for $22,500. A 10% deposit has been made.
Copsidas is best-described as an LPTV entrepreneur who looks at signals and sees DMA opportunities. For example, three Monticello, N.Y.-based stations were acquired with the intention of taking advantage of its presence within the vast New York market.
Thus, D.T.V., led by Randy Weigner, has the right to receive 20% of the gross proceeds — provided that equipment costs tied to the station do not exceed $75,000 and that a broker fee is deducted beforehand.
No broker information was provided in the APA filed with the FCC. The seller’s legal counsel is Kathleen Victory of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth.
Just two weeks ago, Copsidas flipped the switch on WCRN-31 in Boston, a hub for programming created by Intrigue Group. It is expected that W21CQ will air similar programming, and perhaps emulate the Boston property by giving its DT2 multicast signal to Diya Network, a South Asian offering based in California.
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