The New York Times Company confirmed its long-awaited exit from the television broadcasting business this week, announcing that it is selling its Broadcast Media Group to a Oak Hill Capital Partners, a private equity firm headed up by Robert M. Bass.
The deal, valued at $575 million, includes nine stations, their associated Web sites and the Digital Operating Center and is expected to close in the first half of this year. The nine stations include:
• WHO-TV in Des Moines, Iowa (NBC)
• KFSM-TV in Ft. Smith, Ark. (CBS)
• WHNT-TV in Huntsville, Ala. (CBS)
• WREG-TV in Memphis, Tenn. (CBS)
• WQAD-TV in Moline, Ill. (ABC)
• WTKR-TV in Norfolk, Va. (CBS)
• KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, Okla. (NBC)
• KAUT-TV in Oklahoma City, Okla. (MyNetworkTV)
• WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pa. (ABC)
These are strong, well-situated stations with very talented employees," said Janet L. Robinson, president and CEO of The New York Times Company. "Over the years they have provided their communities with high-quality programming and have contributed significantly to our financial performance. We believe, however, that our focus now should be on the development of our newspapers and our rapidly growing digital businesses and the increasing synergies between them."
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