Gray Media has entered into an agreement to acquire six television stations from American Spirit Media, the companies announced in a press release on Wednesday.
The deal is valued at $50 million, and involves television stations primarily located in smaller TV markets, the announcement said.
The stations at the center of the deal are:
- WXTX (Channel 54, Fox) in Columbus, Georgia
- KVHP (Channel 29, Fox) in Lake Charles, Louisiana
- WDBD (Channel 40, Fox) in Jackson, Mississippi
- WSFX (Channel 26, Fox) in Wilmington, North Carolina
- WUPW (Channel 36, Fox) in Toledo, Ohio
- KAUZ (Channel 6, CBS) in Wichita Falls, Texas
Many of the stations are familiar to Gray Media: The broadcaster currently has shared services agreements that allows it to operate five of the six outlets, and it produces local news for four of them.
Earlier this week, Gray Media paid $40 million to American Spirit Media to continue its shared services agreement, which allows Gray Media to recoup their investment through advertising sales and retransmission consent agreements with pay TV platforms.
Gray Media said it will use existing cash on hand to complete the second transaction, which involves the transfer of broadcast licenses from American Spirit Media. That part of the deal is subject to the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which issues the licenses in the first place.
“Consistent with each of Gray’s other television station transactions announced over the past 12 months, the American Spirit transaction furthers our commitment to pursuing prudent tuck-in acquisitions that strengthen our local presence and expand our scale, including establishing two-station footprints in attractive markets,” a Gray Media spokesperson said in a statement.
Other transactions completed or announced by Gray Media over the past year include a deal to acquire television stations from Block Communications and a station swap with the E. W. Scripps Company.
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