Nexstar Broadcasting Group has struck a deal with Television Station Group Holdings to acquire WTAJ-TV, the CBS affiliate which serves Johnstown/Altoona, PA. The purchase price is reported to be $56 million.
The deal also entails the acquisition of the license, certain assets and contracts of WLYH-TV, the UPN affiliate that serves the Harrisburg/Lancaster/Lebanon/York market. WLYH will be operated by Clear Channel until 2015 under a time brokerage agreement.
“The acquisition of WTAJ-TV reflects our focus on expanding Nexstar’s portfolio with stations that have leading audience and revenue shares and quality, highly rated local news programming,” said Perry Sook, president and CEO for Nexstar. “The acquisition is also consistent with our clustering strategy whereby we seek to operate multiple stations in concentrated geographic regions.”
The addition of these two stations will bring the total number of stations Nexstar operates in Pennsylvania to four. The other two, both located in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, are WBRE, an NBC affiliate operated through a local sales agreement, and WYOU, the CBS affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting.
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