ATLANTA—Gray Television has come to terms on a deal to acquire Quincy Media Inc. for $925 million in cash. With the deal, Gray TV will add a total of 11 TV stations, and will own TV stations serving 102 U.S. TV markets reaching 25.4% of U.S. TV households, it said.
QMI is a family-owned media company based in Quincy, Ill. It owns and operates TV stations and digital platforms in 16 markets, primarily in the Midwest. Gray TV will acquiring the following TV stations from QMI:
- WPTA (ABC/NBC) and WISE (CW), Fort Wayne, Ind.
- WEEK (NBC/ABC/CW), Peoria, Ill.
- WREX (NBC/CW), Rockford, Ill.
- KBJR (NBC/CBS) and KDLH (CW), Duluth, Minn.
- KTIV (NBC/CW), Sioux City, Iowa
- KTTC (NBC/CW), Rochester-Mason City, Minnesota-Iowa
- WBNG (CBS/CW), Binghamton, N.Y.
- WVVA (NBC/CW), Bluefield-Beckley, WVa.
- WGEM (NBC/Fox/CW), Quincy, Ill.
To meet to regulatory approvals, Gray will divest QMI stations in these markets:
- Tucson, Ariz.
- Madison, Wis.
- Paducah-Harrisburg, Kentucky-Illinois
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- La Crosse-Eau Claire, Wis.
- Wausau-Stevens Point, Wis.
In addition to these stations, Gray TV will acquire Quincy’s Heroes & Icons affiliate WSJV in South Bend, Ind., and WGEM (AM)/-FM in Quincy, Ill. Gray will not acquire QMI’s newspaper operations, which will be divested prior to the deal closing.
“We are honored and humbled to be selected by Quincy’s shareholders to acquire this terrific company,” said Hilton H. Howell Jr., Gray’s executive chairman and CEO. “We are very excited to welcome their dedicated journalists, account executives and technologists to the Gray family. With the addition of these professionals and their stations, Gray will become a stronger company with an even larger platform of high quality television stations to better serve the public interest first.”
“Many of our shareholders, board members and employees are descendants of two families who have been in the company for 95 years and in the media business for over 100 years. The focus has always been on serving our communities with the best in news, public service and community involvement. It is a legacy of which we are very proud,” said Ralph M. Oakley, president/CEO of QMI. “While this is the end of a long and successful chapter, it also represents a wonderful new chapter for the communities we serve and our employees with the acquisition of the stations by Gray. They are great operators and people and our philosophies very much mirror one another.”
Gray expects the deal to close in the second or third quarter of 2021.
