As part of its plan to acquire Tegna, Standard General is planning to buy Cox Media Group’s Boston station WFXT to anchor its new station group.
Standard General and Cox Media Group said they will undergo a multi-step process where CMG will acquire the station group currently owned by Standard General’s affiliate, Community News Media LLC, and then a Standard General affiliate will acquire WFXT.
Following the close of those two transactions, the Standard General affiliate will then acquire Tegna, in a take-private deal that Standard General and Tegna announced today.
CMG will then buy Tegna’s Austin, Tx. station, KVUE, its Dallas stations, WFAA and KMPX, and its Houston stations, KHOU and KTBU.
Soo Kim, founding partner of Standard General L.P., said his company is delighted to be acquiring WFXT, since it will “serve as a foundation for our new station group and provide our new company with a historic legacy from its very start.”
“We appreciate the many contributions of our dedicated station employees and are confident that they will have great futures at CMG, an exceptional broadcast group with a strong commitment to the communities it serves,” said Kim.
“We will be pleased to welcome the strong talent at CNM and at Tegna’s stations in Austin, Dallas and Houston into the CMG family,” said CMG president and CEO Dan York. “The opportunity to grow in these CNM and Texas markets further complements CMG’s existing core strengths.”
“We will miss the dedicated team at WFXT Boston25, but we know they will form an ideal foundation for Standard General’s new company and its further growth,” York added.
The CNM stations to be acquired by CMG in the first part of the deal are:
KBSI (Fox) – Cape Girardeau, Mo.
KLKN (ABC) – Lincoln, Neb.
WDKA (MyNet) – Paducah, Ky.
WLNE-TV(ABC) – New Bedford, Mass.
The transactions are subject to customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals. The parties expect to close the announced transactions in the second half of 2022.