LIN Media today announced that it has agreed to purchase 13 stations from New Vision Television for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million of debt.
New Vision’s 13 network affiliated stations are located in eight markets across the country, including Birmingham, Honolulu, and Portland, OR.
On its website, New Vision Television describes itself as “the future of local TV” but the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, means that there will be little future for the company.
“This is a bittersweet development,” New Vision CEO Jason Elkin said today in a statement. “The decision to sell to LIN Media was not an easy one, but we negotiated a fair price and so decided that now is the right time for me and others at New Vision to begin to look at new opportunities.”
Here are the stations LIN has agreed to acquire:
KOIN (CBS) in Portland, OR
KSNW (NBC) in Wichita, KS
KHON (Fox) in Honolulu
KSNT (NBC)-KTMJ-CA (Fox) and KTKA (ABC) in Topeka, KS
WIAT (CBS) in Birmingham
WJCL (ABC)-WTGS (Fox) in Savannah
KIMT (CBS) in Mason City, IA
WKBN (CBS)-WYFX-LP (Fox)-WYTV (ABC) in Youngstown, OH
“We have been evaluating the M&A landscape for quite some time and selectively pursued New Vision Television as it adds geographical diversity, particularly in the South and Western U.S.,” Vincent Sadusky, LIN’s president and CEO, said. “New Vision Television has a reputation for operating high-quality, well-run media properties. This is a terrific opportunity to strengthen our mid-size market station portfolio in an accretive manner and will provide new markets to expand our digital businesses.”
LIN’s current portfolio of 32 stations reaches 7.3% of U.S. households. The company’s acquisition of New Vision stations will bump that figure up to 10.6%.