With the acquisition of a Charlotte duopoly in the rearview mirror, Fox Television Stations is looking to purchase more stations, Variety reports:
The station arm of 21st Century Fox is sniffing around acquisition targets in several major markets, including Seattle, St. Louis and San Francisco. The push is part of a larger strategy to add to its station holdings in NFL markets, particularly markets with NFC teams, the conference for which Fox has a TV rights package. Fox at present has O&Os in 11 of the 16 NFC markets.
Industry sources say Fox is actively looking at stations in the Seattle market. [sic] where Tribune owns the existing Fox affiliate, KCPQ-TV. There’s speculation that Fox has its eye on Cox Enterprises-owned KIRO-TV, a CBS affiliate. But sources cautioned that Fox is “turning over a lot of rocks” right now in the market and hasn’t zeroed in on a specific acquisition target.
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Presenting to investors earlier this month, Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy hinted that the station group was looking to add to its portfolio.