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Nexstar Buying KASW Phoenix for $68M


Dantheflash2014

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Nexstar Buying KASW Phoenix For $68M

The deal for the CW affiliate is a result of Meredith agreeing to spin off the station after buying it along with KTVK from Gannett in June.

 

 

Nexstar Broadcasting Group is paying $68 million plus working capital to Meredith Corp. for CW affiliate KASW Phoenix (DMA 11). Meredith and its sidecar SagamoreHill purchased KASW from Gannett Co. and Sander Media as part of Gannett’s acquisition of Belo Corp. As part of FCC approval, Meredith and SagamoreHill voluntarily agreed to divest KASW to an independent buyer within 90 days of its June 19 closing.

Nexstar said the proposed acquisition “is expected to be accretive to Nexstar’s operating results immediately upon closing and inclusive of all other previously announced transactions, will expand the company’s coverage to 57 markets in 22 states, reaching approximately 19.7 million television households.

 

Source TVNewscheck

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Target: KCWI in Des Moines, IA

 

Recent trend has been shrinking number of standalone CW affiliates in a market, but Nexstar picking up KASW Phoenix and, I'm told, KCWI Des Moines Next.

 

 

I have a story out Oct. 27 on the various CW stations that are freestanding, as in, don’t have a duopoly partner in the market. There are not many of them, and the number is shrinking in this era of consolidation and all-important duopolies. Gray Television picked up WQCW earlier this year, for instance, and paired it up with WSAZ.

Wouldn’t you know it, just as I was finishing up my story, Nexstar went and acquired KASW Phoenix for $68 million; the station had been acquired, along with KTVK, by Meredith from Gannett in June, which then lined up Sagamore Hill to hold the license. Meredith’s initial deal was for $230 million.

Nexstar is not done yet. Sources tell me KCWI in Des Moines, another CW, is going to Nexstar as well. Perry Sook, Nexstar president and CEO, would not confirm, but said he hoped to do so “very soon.” That would mean another standalone CW station. Titan Broadcast, which operates some Pappas stations, would not confirm either.

I asked Ted Stephens, general manager of KCWI, how the Pappas-owned station has been able to hold on as a standalone in the market. Stephens mentioned a 6-10 a.m. variety program called Great Day that’s been on KCWI for a few years; he calls it “our salvation.” The show hosts local performers, authors and personalities, and features local headlines, weather and traffic.

“That’s the key,” says Stephens. “Local, local, local.”

The biggest holders of non-duopoly CWs are Tribune, of course, as well as Lockwood Broadcasting, with CW stations in Knoxville, Huntsville and Greensboro. Also key to surviving as standalones: a big, savvy operator behind you, and a batch of digi-nets to expand your offerings beyond CW and your own local stuff.

 

Source: Broadcasting And Cable.

 

:agree:

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Malone's B&C article has a number of fallacies, including not mentioning WOI as being owned by Nexstar. Also, he mentions supplementing the cash flow with diginets, something that Nexstar isn't known for being a proponent of, but they seem to be warming up a little. The problem in Phoenix is their preferred diginets (Me-TV and Bounce TV) are already taken.

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