WASHINGTON—The FCC and Scripps Broadcasting Holdings have come to an agreement that would result in a fine of $1.13 million to Scripps for violations of monitoring practices of lights on TV towers it owns. Scripps is also required to abide by a compliance plan to prevent further violations.

This all began on Aug. 31, 2018, when a small aircraft crashed into a TV tower owned by Cordillera Communications in Kaplan, La. The FCC found no evidence connecting the collision to a violation of Part 17 of the Communications Act of 1934, which is meant to ensure antenna structures do not pose a hazard to aviation safety. However it did find irregularities with Cordillera’s compliance with Part 17 that it determined warranted further investigation into the Kaplan structure and 10 other Cordillera owned structures.

This expanded investigation discovered problems with Cordillera’s towers that included monitoring of tower lighting systems, maintenance of complete records of lighting failures and notifications to the FCC of changes of ownership of two towers.

In the spring of 2019, Scripps and Cordillera finalized an agreement that would have Scripps acquire all equity interests in 10 of Cordillera’s license subsidiaries. As part of the deal, Scripps agreed to accept liability for the results of the FCC’s investigation.

This fine of $1.13 million, as well as the compliance plan, were all negotiated by Scripps with the FCC.

The details of the compliance plan include that Scripps will designate a senior corporate manager as its Compliance Officer within 30 days of the agreement, who will be responsible for developing, implementing and administering the compliance plan. Within 60 days of the agreement, Scripps will be required to officially develop its compliance plan, which will include operating procedures, a compliance manual and a compliance training program.

The FCC has released its complete order against Scripps and made it available to the public.

Editors Note: A previous version of the article mistakenly referred to Scripps Broadcasting Holdings as Sinclair Broadcasting Holdings.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company’s roster of TV stations has increased after the company announced that it has closed its acquisition of 15 television stations across 10 markets from Cordillera Communications. These new stations bring Scripps’ total to 52 TV stations in 36 markets, reaching nearly 21% of U.S. TV households.

Here is the full list of stations Scripps acquired from Cordillera:

• WLEX (NBC), Lexington, Ky.
• KOAA (NBC), Colorado Springs, Colo.
• KATC (ABC), Lafayette, La.
• KSBY (NBC), Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo, Calif.
• KRIS (NBC) and KAJA (Telemundo), Corpus Christi, Texas
• KPAX and KAJJ (CBS), Missoula, Mont.
• KTVQ (CBS), Billings, Mont.
• KXLF and KBZK (CBS), Butte-Bozeman, Mont.
• KRTV (CBS) and KTGF (NBC), Great Falls, Mont.
• KTVH (NBC) and KXLH (CBS), Helena, Mont.

Brian Lawlor, president of Local Media, says these acquisitions are part of Scripps’ strategy to increase financial durability and operating performance for the Scripps broadcast portfolio.

Scripps has another deal on the horizon, previously announcing the acquisition of eight TV station in seven markets from the Nexstar-Tribune merger divestitures.

CINCINNATI –Cordillera Communications has announced the sale of 15 of 16 of its TV stations to the E.W. Scripps Company and the 16th Tucson station to Quincy Media, Inc. The deal marks the exit of the St. Paul, Minn.-based station group–which is owned by Charleston, S.C. company Evening Post Industries–from the broadcasting business. Cordillera had announced in August that it had planned to sell its stations. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019 is valued at $521, and subject to federal regulatory approvals.

The acquisitions in 10 markets grows the Scripps local television station footprint to 51 stations in 36 markets with a reach of nearly 21 percent of U.S. TV households. Scripps is not buying Cordillera’s remaining station–NBC affiliate KVOA-TV in Tucson, Ariz.– because Scripps already operates a duopoly in that market. There are no other overlapping markets.

All but one of the acquired stations rank No. 1 in their markets. It also adds depth to its local media footprint through the addition of three duopolies-–in Helena and Great Falls, Montana, and Corpus Christi, Texas, according to Scripps.

The stations also diversify Scripps’ affiliate relationships, adding more NBC and CBS stations to Scripps’ strong ABC roster.

“Through this transaction, Scripps will operate the No. 1-rated TV stations in a third of its markets, enhancing the durability of our portfolio,” said Brian Lawlor, president of the Local Media division of Scripps. “The acquisition also allows us to go deeper in new markets with the addition of three new duopolies, including two with Big Four combinations.”

After the acquisition, Scripps will have the No. 1 Nielsen-rated TV stations in 11 of its 36 markets with 18 ABC stations, 11 NBC stations, seven CBS stations and two Fox stations. Scripps will operate seven duopolies.

The stations Scripps is acquiring are:

• WLEX, the NBC affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky
• KOAA, the NBC affiliate in Colorado Springs, Colorado
• KATC, the ABC affiliate in Lafayette, Louisiana
• KSBY, the NBC affiliate in Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo, California
• KRIS, the NBC affiliate, and KAJA, a Telemundo affiliate, in Corpus Christi, Texas
• KPAX and KAJJ, a CBS affiliate in Missoula, Montana
• KTVQ, a CBS affiliate in Billings, Montana
• KXLF/KBZK, the CBS affiliate in Butte-Bozeman, Montana
• KRTV, the CBS affiliate, and KTGF, the NBC affiliate, in Great Falls, Montana
• KTVH, the NBC affiliate, and KXLH, the CBS affiliate, in Helena, Montana

The 10 Cordillera markets have about 700 employees.

“Our stations are as strong as they’ve been across any point in our 32-year history,” said Terry Hurley, president of Cordillera. “We’ve had a good run, and we’re proud of how our stations have excelled over the years. We’re also heartened to know they’ll continue to be in exceptional hands.”

The company had indicated that it was exiting the broadcast business following the spectrum auctions in 2017, which it said “generated significant interest from established parties throughout the country”

“The two buyers represent the best possible scenario: They are poised to grow the stations and empower them to compete in this changing media landscape, and, more importantly, they will provide a great home and opportunities for the dedicated employees of Cordillera,” Hurley said.

Methuselah Advisors acted as financial advisor. 

CINCINNATI—Cordillera Communications will need to relocate three of its local stations to new UHF channels as part of the upcoming spectrum repack and it recently announced it will work with GatesAir for assistance. Once the necessary paperwork is completed for Cordillera’s three stations—WLEX-DT in Lexington, Ky., KOAA-DT in Pueblo/Colorado Springs, Colo., and KAJJ-CD in Kalispell, Mont.—GatesAir will provide transmission equipment for each site to meet the repack transition schedule.

The Cordillera stations will be receiving Maxiva ULXTE liquid-cooled UHF transmitters, XTE exciters and other RF equipment from GatesAir as part of the deal.

An additional factor in the selection of this particular gear for the Cordillera stations was that it would enable them to be ATSC 3.0-ready. This will allow Cordillera to more easily upgrade to the next-gen television standard when ATSC 3.0 broadcasting is ready to take place.

Cordillera Communications is a TV station group based in St. Paul, Minn.