As it awaits government approval of its $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media, Sinclair Broadcasting is selling off 9 stations to Standard Media LLC.
The price: $441.7 million in cash.
At the same time, Standard General, a hedge fund that owns Standard Media, has hired industry veteran Deb McDermott as CEO. McDermott has most recently been Chief Operating Officer of Media General and, before that, was Chief Executive Officer of Young Broadcasting when it merged with Media General. So, she’s been to the consolidation and divestiture rodeo before.
The stations include:
KOKH (FOX) Oklahoma City – Currently owned by Sinclair
WXMI (FOX) Grand Rapids, MI – Currently owned by Tribune
WPMT (FOX) Harrisburg, PA – Currently owned by Tribune
WXLV (ABC) Greensboro, NC – Currently owned by Sinclair
WRLH (FOX) Richmond, VA – Currently owned by Sinclair
WOLF (FOX) / WSWB (CW) / WQMY (MY) Wilkes Barre, PA – Currently owned by Sinclair
KDSM (FOX) Des Moines, IA – Currently owned by Sinclair
“The stations we are acquiring in this transaction have tremendous potential in excellent markets. We are excited to work with the talented station teams established by Sinclair and Tribune and grow the business for years to come,” said McDermott, who promised more acquisitions in the future.
Fox Broadcasting had reportedly been interested in some of the FOX affiliates that Sinclair will be divesting. At the same time, B&C reports Sinclair is now looking to hold on to what will be its biggest post-merger station, WPIX in New York, but sell Tribune stations in Denver, Houston, Miami and others.