MCLEAN, Va., and CINCINNATI — TEGNA this week announced it will acquire Gray Television stations in Toledo, Ohio, and Odessa-Midland, Texas, for $105 million in cash, and E.W. Scripps said it would buy stations in Waco, Texas, and Tallahassee, Fla., from Raycom Media for $55 million.

In June Gray and Raycom announced they were combining their broadcast groups and that as part of the deal Gray would sell WTOL, the CBS affiliate in Toledo, and KWES, the NBC affiliate in Odessa-Midland. TEGNA’s acquisition of the stations is contingent on the close of the Gray-Raycom merger, TEGNA said.

[Read: Gray, Raycom To Combine, Creating Third Biggest Station Group]

E.W. Scripps is buying Raycom’s KXXV/KRHD in Waco and WTXL in Tallahassee, which also are being divested as part of the merger. The stations are ABC affiliates.

“Scripps’ acquisition of these two stations is in line with the strategic vision we set out early this year: to strengthen our portfolio of local television stations while delivering value to shareholders,” said Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson.

TEGNA President and CEO Dave Lougee said WTOL and KWEX are “an excellent strategic and financial fit with our portfolio.”

“WTOL and KWES are strong, leading local media brands, with deep roots in their community,” said Lougee.

The acquisition of WTOL and KWES is structured as an asset purchase being paid for through the use of available cash and borrowing under TEGNA’s existing credit facility.

The acquisition has a purchase price multiple of 5 times expected average 2017/2018 EBITDA, including run rate synergies and net present value tax savings in the high-teen millions (or 5.9 times, prior to tax savings), the station group said.

The transaction is expected to be accretive to EPS in less than a year after close and immediately accretive to free cash flow, it added.

The acquisitions by Scripps will increase its holdings to 35 TV stations in 26 markets. The group’s reach will grow to 18.5% of U.S. TV households.

“Scripps’ acquisition of these two stations is in line with the strategic vision we set out early this year: to strengthen our portfolio of local television stations while delivering value to shareholders,” said Symson.

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MONTGOMERY, ALA.—Raycom Media and The E.W. Scripps Company are putting their heads together as part of a new partnership to develop new and original programming for their broadcast and digital operations.

The partnership between the companies will see these programs reach 29 percent of U.S. households, including 12 markets in the top 40 DMAs, according to the press release. The two companies are currently moving toward production on multiple projects, with an anticipated launch date of 2017. The companies say they welcome other local broadcasters and/or media companies to join in the venture.

Raycom, Scripps and Cox Media Group have a separate development agreement for syndication of the viral video series “Right This Minute.” 

CINCINNATI – Raycom Media will begin publishing content from Newsy across its 30-plus owned-and-operated news channel websites.

Newsy is the over-the-top video news service targeting Millennials. It a wholly owned subsidiary of The E.W. Scripps.

“Newsy provides a fresh perspective on the day’s news, with an editorial focus that is very targeted at — and performs well with — millennials,” said Joe Fiveash, vice president of digital for Raycom Media. “We believe that Newsy adds an important layer of national and world news depth to our already robust offerings across Raycom markets. In addition to providing relevant news to our consumers, it provides sought-after video placement opportunities for our advertisers.”

After a successful trial run on the website of its Memphis-based station, WMC Action News 5, Raycom said it sought a larger distribution of Newsy videos across its properties. The agreement secures placement of multiple Newsy videos in the daily video module on each of Raycom’s news channels’ websites. Raycom Media stations cover 13.1 percent of U.S. television households.

E.W. Scripps acquired Newsy for $35 million in December of 2013. Newsy is based in Columbia, Mo., home of the Missouri School of Journalism. It was a five-year-old startup at the time. It generates revenue from advertising on its digital platforms, and selling news and original content to media companies such as AOL/Huffington Post, Microsoft, Mashable and now Raycom; and syndicating its content.