Nexstar Broadcasting is set to acquire two CBS-affiliates, WFRV in Green Bay and WJMN in Marquette, MI, from an affiliate of Liberty Media Corporation for $20 million.
The deal boosts Nexstar’s standing “as a leading consolidator of stations in mid-sized markets through accretive transactions,” as Nexstar president and CEO Perry Sook romantically described it in a news release.
If approved by the FCC, the acquisition of WFRV and WJMN, which operates as a semi-satellite of the Green Bay station, will increase the number of CBS-affiliates in Nexstar’s stable to 13, and expand the number of stations, most of them in sub-100 DMAs, that the company owns and/or operates to 65.
Nexstar plans to make good on its investment in the stations by ringing out additional retrans revenues from WFRV and WJMN while also bolstering their online advertising.