CINCINNATI & GREENWICH, Conn.—The E.W. Scripps Company has announced it has closed its acquisition of Ion Media Networks Inc. from Black Diamond Capital Management LLC. Scripps purchase of Ion for $2.65 billion was first announced in September 2020.

Scripps will now combine Ion with the Katz networks and Newsy to create a national television networks business. Scripps says that these combined networks will reach nearly every American through free over-the-air broadcast, cable/satellite, OTT and digital distribution, and feature multiple advertising-supported programing streams.

The new national networks business will be led by Lisa Knutson, president, national networks, and previously Scripps’ chief financial officer.

“This is a historic and transformational moment for Scripps that strengthens our leadership position in broadcasting and accelerates our multiplatform strategy to serve diverse audiences everywhere they seek to be informed and entertained,” said Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson. “Bringing our networks together with Ion will create a formidable national television business focused on connecting with audiences and advertisers in the rapidly evolving media landscape while fueling our company’s future growth.”

Ion Media reaches more than 100 million homes through over-the-air and pay-TV platforms, according to Scripss’ press release.

As part of the deal, Scripps has completed the sale of 23 Ion affiliated TV stations to INYO Broadcast Holdings.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company has announced that it has acquired the national broadcast network Ion Media for a price of $2.65 billion. The deal will combine Ion with Scripps’ Katz networks and Newsy, creating a national television network business, according to Scripps announcement.

Berkshire Hathaway, which is owned by Warren Buffet, is supporting the deal by investing $600 million in Scripps.

Scripps is purchasing Ion from Black Diamond Capital Management. Ion Media is a national TV network offering primarily popular crime and justice procedural programming, with a reach of more than 100 million homes, per Scripps, with licensed TV stations in 62 markets that it owns as well as 124 affiliated TV stations. Ion elects government-mandated must-carry provisions for cable distribution rather than negotiating retransmission revenue.

With Katz, Newsy and Ion, Scripps says that its national networks business will reach nearly every American through free over-the-air broadcast, cable/satellite, OTT and digital distribution, with multiple advertising-supported programming streams.

“The evolution of Scripps’ national television network business, through the combination of Ion, the Katz networks and Newsy, repositions the company in the television landscape,” said Adam Symson, Scripps president and CEO.

“For more than 70 years, Scripps has been dedicated to local broadcasting and the markets we serve with an unparalleled commitment to quality objective journalism, community service and stewardship of the public’s airwaves,” continued Symson. “Now, with this national broadcasting acquisition, Scripps will be the largest holder of broadcast spectrum, poised to take an even greater leadership role in the development of future business models that leverage ATSC 3.0 and spectrum to benefit the American people.”

Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall told TVT’s sister publication B+C that this is “the deal of the year.”

“While we've historically liked Scripps management and assets, investors have found the portfolio too in between: not enough National (relative to the portfolio) to be a growthy stock thesis, and not enough Local scale to get the cash profile of its peers,” Cahall said.

“The Ion deal is undoubtedly transformative as it nearly doubles Scripps enterprise value and the mix of stations + a national net ties everything together like a media bow,” he said. “Bringing Berkshire Hathaway in is also about the best equity market seal of approval there is. We expect investor interest in Scripps to accelerate on the back of this deal and should push Scripps' strong operating performance and proactive strategy into the limelight.”

The Scripps-Ion deal is still subject to FCC approval. To meet requirements, Scripps has already said that it will divest 23 Ion stations, and that it has agreed to a transaction with a buyer, though no specific details were shared. Scripps expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2021.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—ION Media today announced its purchase of KMCC-TV in Las Vegas from Entravision Communications Corp. Financial details of the acquisition were not immediately available.

The move adds about 1 million TV households to the broadcaster’s nationwide footprint. The acquisition takes the number of ION Media’s total of full-power stations to 71 in the 62 biggest U.S. markets and means it has 41 owned-and-operated stations in the top 50 markets.

“ION is committed to investing in broadcast television and offering affordable high-quality content to all American households,” said Brandon Burgess, chairman and CEO of ION Media.

“Over-the-air broadcasting has grown to be the primary source of live linear television for nearly a quarter of the U.S. population. We serve this demand by offering ION content via over-the-air broadcast spectrum in high-growth markets like Las Vegas.”

With the purchase, ION’s full-power UHF station holdings cover 1.2 billion MHz-pops and 231 million people across the company, ION Media said.

More information is available on the ION Media website.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—ION Media has acquired five full-power UHF TV stations, expanding its nationwide presence with stations in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and Dayton, Ohio, the company announced today.

The acquisitions take ION Media’s full-power TV station count to 70 in 61 markets. Together, the five newly acquired stations reach 9.1 million.

ION Media has acquired KILM-TV in Los Angeles from Sunbelt Television and WDLI-TV in Cleveland, WCLJ-TV in Indianapolis, WSFJ-TV in Columbus and WKOI-TV in Dayton from Trinity Broadcasting Network. The company also acquired five broadcast towers from Trinity to support the repack of some of its stations as part of the FCC’s reallocation of TV spectrum in support of its broadcast incentive auction. Financial details of the transactions were not immediate available.

“These acquisitions follow through on our commitment to invest in ION’s broadcast television growth story,” said Brandon Burgess, chairman and CEO of ION Media. “Over-the-air and over-the-top are the two fastest growing wireless delivery platforms for affordable quality television content. Our focus on UHF spectrum and quality content will allow us to best provide both OTA and OTT services to value-oriented distribution partners and consumers.”

According to an ION statement, the acquisitions reinforce the company’s position “as the largest U.S. holder of full power broadcast TV spectrum,” covering 1.3 billion MHz-pops and 225 million people around the country in all key metro areas.

More information is available on the ION Media website.

WASHINGTON--The FCC, with an assist from a bunch of broadcasters including Sinclair and Tribune, have teamed up to tell a federal court that the groups challenging the FCC's return of the UHF discount did not have standing the bring the suit.

That came in comments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

After judges in oral argument suggested Free Press et. al had not provided the requisite documentation of harmed members, the group supplied testimonials to that effect.

But in a brief filed with the court Wednesday (May 16) in response to Free Press' supplement, the FCC said that the Supreme Court had long made clear that for an organization to establish standing, it must identify specific members "who had suffered cognizable, traceable, and redressable injuries," and that the court's signal that it would allow Free Press to provide that after the fact if Free Press could show that it "reasonably, but mistakenly, believed" its original filing "had sufficiently demonstrated standing."

The FCC said the petitioners had not done that. For one, it said, since petitioners did not identify any specific members, let alone what their injury might be, it "could not have reasonably thought it had demonstrated standing."

The FCC pointed out it had challenged standing, as had the broadcasters, Free Press et al. had failed to remedy that deficiency in reply briefs or oral argument.

And trying to use Free Press' supplement against it, the FCC said that its "belated submission of hundreds of pages of declarations, following a court order, demonstrates it was unreasonable for petitioners to have previously believed their standing was obvious."

As to Free Press' citation of the potential harms of a Sinclair-Tribune merger in their supplement, the FCC said that was simply "speculation about the effects of proposed broadcast acquisitions that are still awaiting Commission action." To be fair, Free Press also cited the impact of Sinclair-Bonten deal, which was approved last year.

Given that Free Press did not establish standing "at the time of the suit," or so the FCC argues, the court should dismiss the petition to review and reverse the UHF discount decision on the basis of lack of standing.

In their brief, Sinclair, Tribune, Fox, Univision, Trinity, ION and Nexstar, second-chaired the FCC's argument, summing it up this way:

"The Supreme Court and this Court long ago held that parties relying on the associational-standing doctrine must 'establis[h] that at least one identified member' has standing. It is likewise well-established that petitioners 'must produce actual evidence, not mere allegations, of facts that support [their] standing.' Petitioners failed to meet these clear requirements and had no reasonable basis for believing that the requirements did not apply."

They also agreed that the Sinclair-Tribune deal is "insufficiently certain or imminent to establish standing."

The insufficiently imminent point is because the FCC has yet to even restart its shot clock on the deal, after which it will put the latest deal out for several weeks of public comment before rendering a decision.

They also point out that the Bonten deal was not opposed by Free Press et al. "Petitioners cannot establish standing based on a transaction they did not oppose and cannot seek to undo because any alleged harm to Petitioners would be traceable to that transaction, not the FCC’s separate Reconsideration Order," they said. "Additionally, the FCC had not approved the Sinclair-Bonten transaction when Petitioners instituted this action, the “critical time for Article III standing analysis.” 

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.—ION Media is planting its flag in St. Louis, Columbia, S.C. and Boise, Idaho, announcing the acquisition of three full power UHF broadcast TV stations in each market. WRBU-TV in St. Louis, WZRB-TV in Columbia and KTRV-TV in Boise are now included in ION’s total of 63 stations in 58 markets.

With these new acquisitions, ION says that it adds five million viewers to its audience. It also will expand its UHF broadcast TV spectrum, covering 1.22 billion MHz pops across metropolitan areas.

According to ION, it now operates TV stations in each of the 20 largest U.S. markets and 24 of the top 25.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. and NEW YORK—ION Media announced that it would commence broadcasting from One World Trade Center in New York. The announcement was made in cooperation with The Durst Organization and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which co-developed and co-manage the property.

ION Media’s TV networks ION Television, ION Life and Qubo will begin broadcasting from One World Trade’s 1,776-foot height “in the fourth quarter of 2017, providing New York and the tri-state area with a 360-degree signal from a state-of-the-art omni-directional antenna. For Ion, this will provide an ideal high-power UHF frequency footprint for HD broadcasting and future wireless spectrum applications,” ION’s announcement said.

ION owns and operates WPXN in New York—its flagship station. ION must move WPXN from Ch. 31 to Ch.34 in phase No. 4 of the post-incentive auction repack, according to the Public Notice announcing regional repack coordinators.

“Offering the best over-the-air wireless television signal in the most important media market in the world, from the top of One World Trade Center, achieves an important objective,” said Brandon Burgess, chairman and CEO, ION Media. “We are proud to return to this premier location since our tragic departure after 9/11.”

ION Media has 60 full-power stations reach 98 million homes. Of those, 49 stations received new channels in the post-auction channel reassignment, according toFCC data made available by Rabbit Ears, which also indicates two ION stations that will go off the air to either go dark or channel-share—WDPX in Vineyard Haven, Mass.; and WFPX in Fayetteville, N.C.

John Lyons, assistant vice president and director of Broadcast Communications of The Durst Organization, said.“We are thrilled to welcome ION Media to One World Trade Center’s broadcast facility. The facility was designed with state-of-the-art equipment and also has the infrastructure in place for future broadcasting technological advancements.”

Durst announced that broadcast transmission tests would commence May 8 with WNJU, WNBC, WCBS and WNET, at the NAB Show last month.

Image copyright NAB 2017