BALTIMORE -- Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the broadcast assets of 18 television stations owned by Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC for $370 million, and entered into agreements to operate or provide sales services to another six stations.
The 24 stations are located in 15 markets and reach 3.4 percent of the U.S. TV households. The transaction is subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission and antitrust clearance. Sinclair anticipates the transaction will close and fund in the second quarter of 2013, subject to closing conditions. It expects to finance the purchase price, less $20 million in deposits, through a bank loan and/or by accessing the capital markets.
The purchase follows Sinclair’s deal to pick up four Cox TV stations for $94.7 million, announced Monday.
“This week, we launched our small market television group when we announced we would be acquiring certain of the Cox Media television stations,” said David Smith, President and CEO of Sinclair. “The Barrington stations are an important part of that strategy, providing meaningful scale to the group. Including synergies, we believe the Barrington stations can generate approximately $71 million of cash flow, on average. When combined with the Cox stations, we expect our expertise and resources to create approximately $29 million in synergistic, incremental cash flow, equating to approximately $232 million of added equity value or $2.85 per share.”
The Barrington stations covered by the transaction are:
Station
Affil.
Market
DMA(1)
WEYI
NBC
Flint/Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, MI
67
WBSF
CW
Flint/Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, MI
67
WNWO
NBC
Toledo, OH
76
WACH
FOX
Columbia, SC
77
WSTM
NBC
Syracuse, NY
84
WTVH
CBS
Syracuse, NY
84
WSTQ
CW
Syracuse, NY
84
KGBT
CBS
Harlingen/Weslaco/Brownsville/McAllen, TX
86
KXRM
FOX
Colorado Springs, CO
89
KXTU
CW
Colorado Springs, CO
89
WPDE
ABC
Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC
103
WWMB
CW
Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC
103
WHOI
ABC
Peoria/Bloomington, IL
116
WPBN
NBC
Traverse City/Cadillac, MI
120
WGTU
ABC
Traverse City/Cadillac, MI
120
WTOM
NBC
Traverse City/Cadillac, MI
120
WGTQ
ABC
Traverse City/Cadillac, MI
120
KVII
ABC
Amarillo, TX
130
KVIH
ABC
Amarillo, TX
130
KRCG
CBS
Columbia/Jefferson City, MO
138
WFXL
FOX
Albany, GA
150
KHQA
CBS
Quincy, IL/Hannibal, MO/Keokuk, IA
171
WLUC
NBC
Marquette, MI
180
KTVO
ABC
Ottumwa, IA/Kirksville, MO
199
Steve Pruett will oversee the stations as chief operating officer of the newly formed Chesapeake TV subsidiary. Sinclair said Pruett has more than 30 years of experience in the broadcast industry with an extensive background in television station finance and management. For the past 10 years, he has been with Communications Corp. of America, first as chief financial officer, then becoming its president in 2006 and president and CEO, as well as a member of the board, in 2007. He served as special strategic advisor to DirecTV and Thomson Consumer Electronics from 1998 to 2002. From 1995 to 1999, he was a managing director at Communications Equity Associates.
During his career, he has helped found several broadcast groups as an initial investor, financier, managing partner or board member including Spanish Radio Group Excel Communications, ACME Television, USBG, and UPI Media, where he served as president. Pruett attended Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville where he majored in Radio and Television. He later earned a Masters in Management from the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University. Since 2008, Pruett has been a member of the Fox Affiliate Board of Governors where he served as treasurer until 2011 when he was elected chairman, a position he currently holds.
Due to FCC ownership rules, Sinclair will sell its Fox affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y., WSYT-TV, and assign its local marketing agreement and purchase option on its Syracuse MyNetwork affiliate WNYS-TV; and sell its Peoria, Ill. Fox affiliate, WYZZ-TV.
The assets of another four stations will be assigned to Cunningham Broadcasting and Howard Stirk Holdings, a newly formed entity owned and controlled by Armstrong Williams, founder and CEO of boutique communications firm, The Graham Williams Group.
Williams was formerly chief operating officer of the Renaissance Cable TV Network with responsibility for all programming, advertising and content development.
