As part of its plan to get its proposed acquisition of Tribune Media Co. approved, Nexstar announced that it was selling two stations in Indianapolis for $42.5 million to Circle City Broadcasting.
Circle City Broadcasting is a newly formed company formed by DuJuan McCoy, which would owned WISH-TV, the CW affiliate in Indianapolis and WNDY-TV, which is a MyNetworkTV affiliate.
Nexstar announced an agreement to buy Tribune for $4.1. Billion on Dec. 3. Nexstar needed to sell some stations to get under national ownership caps and some other stations to meet local ownership regulations.
The sale of the Indianapolis stations would bring the proceeds of Nexstar station sales to $1.36 billion.
“The proposed sale of two stations in Indianapolis marks another important step forward towards completing the Tribune Media transaction and the last piece of the divestiture component of Nexstar’s comprehensive regulatory compliance plan,” said Perry Sook, CEO of Nexstar. “We are delighted to be working again with DuJuan McCoy as the transaction announced today represents the third time that Nexstar has structured an agreement with Mr. McCoy which furthers the Federal Communications Commission’s goal of increasing television ownership diversity.”
The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC), seconded that.
“This transaction is an example of the achievements that can be made for diverse voices and ownership when there is access to opportunity," said MMTC President Maurita Coley. "DuJuan McCoy is one of the nation’s finest and most competitive broadcast operators. The television viewers of Indianapolis are surely the biggest winners in this deal."
