Fox acquires seven new stations from Sinclair Broadcasting Group for $910m
21st Century Fox bought seven television stations from Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Tribune Media for $910m on Wednesday, extend the reach of Fox Television Stations to nearly half of US households and 19 of the top 201 DMA’s.
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The stations include KCPQ in Seattle; WSFL in Miami; KDVR in Denver; WJW in Cleveland; KTXL in Sacramento; KSWB in San Diego and KSTU in Salt Lake City.
"This transaction illustrates Fox’s commitment to local broadcasting and we are pleased to add these stations to our existing portfolio. With this acquisition, we will now compete in 19 of the top 20 markets and have a significantly larger presence in the west, which will enhance our already strong platform.
"This expansion will further enrich our valuable alignments with the NFL, including our new Thursday Night Football rights, MLB and college sports assets. We are also happy to add many talented Tribune employees to our group, some of whom we know well," said Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox Television Stations.
Fox is not the only company buying stations off Sinclair, Standard Media Group (affiliate of Standard General), Meredith Corp, Howard Stirk and Cunningham Broadcasting Corp are all also striking deals.
The divestment of those 23 stations formed part of its acquisition of the Tribune Media Co. for $4.6bn deal.
Fox was particularly interested in the stations which are in lucrative NFL markets.
Local TV including the new acquired stations will be what remains of Fox after the completion of the sale of its studio and cable assets to Disney for $52.4bn.