Super Bowl Update

Newport Television announced late this morning, as expected, that it has reached three agreements to sell 22 of its stations to Nexstar Broadcasting, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Cox Media Group.

As The Wall Street Journal previously reported, Newport's owner, Providence Equity Partners, will get $1 billion for the sale.

Nexstar, which owns WEHT Local in Evansville and WTWO in Terre Haute and operates Local 7 WTVW and WAWV-ABC for Mission Broadcasting, will spend $285.5 million to acquire 12 of the company's stations in Binghamton, Elmira and Watertown, N.Y.; Jackson and Memphis, Tenn.; and Salt Lake City, Utah.  Mission will acquire and Nexstar will run the Newport stations in Little Rock, Ark.

In addition to the stations, Nexstar is also getting Newport's Inergize Digital operation, which produces websites and mobile apps for Newport's stations and others.

With the purchase of the new stations, Nexstar will own and/or operate 67 stations in 40 markets, and the company's chairman, president and CEO, Perry Sook, is happy to have the new stations on board. “The Newport stations represent an ideal complement to our existing station portfolio in terms of geographic fit, market size and duopoly presence," Sook said in a statement. "Under Nexstar’s ownership, the stations’ financial results will benefit from additional retransmission revenues as well as synergistic operating improvements.  We intend to implement our proven strategy of focusing on local programming and effective online marketing solutions across the twelve Newport stations being acquired.  We will also marry best of breed e-Media practices from our existing operations with those of Inergize Digital to deliver fully-integrated digital management solutions to both our stations and our station clients to generate revenue both on-air, online and on mobile devices.”

Sinclair, the owner of KBSI-Fox 23 in Cape Girardeau and operator of WDKA-My49 in Paducah, is getting six stations in Cincinnati, Ohio; Harrisburg, Pa.; San Antonio, Tex.; and Wichita, Kan.  The company will also assume the operations of additional Harrisburg and Wichita stations which Newport currently runs through shared services agreements.

While Sinclair is getting half as many stations as Nexstar, it's paying more:  $412.5 million, to be exact.

"In the past year, we have announced the acquisition of 23 television stations, representing the addition of almost $1 billion in assets," commented David Smith, president and CEO of Sinclair. "The Newport stations acquisition is consistent with our focus of adding "big four" affiliates in mid-sized markets and strengthening our in-market positions. We are excited to add the stations to our portfolio and look forward to welcoming the Newport employees to the Sinclair family."

As part of the deal, Sinclair will spin off two stations it already owns in San Antonio and Cincinnati to Deerfield Media, but it will continue to operate those stations.  It will also assign Deerfield the right to purchase two other stations that Sinclair currently manages.

Cox, as was announced yesterday, will get the smallest number of stations.  It has agreed to acquire Newport's stations in Jacksonville, Fla. and Tulsa, Okla.  The company owns two stations in each of those cities.

"These divestitures are the result of a thoughtful strategic review process conducted by the board to maximize value at Newport, and we believe these high quality stations will have a bright future with their new owners," said Sandy DiPasquale, president and CEO of Newport Television. "Nexstar, Sinclair, and Cox are well-suited to foster continued success at each of these stations."

The sales of all of the stations are expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year pending FCC and other regulatory approvals.