After announcing it will exit the TV business in May, Allbritton has found a buyer for its seven ABC affiliates: Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group. Allbritton intends to focus its energies on Politico.
The pending deal, at a purchase price of $985 million includes Washington, DC’s WJLA and local cable channel NewsChannel 8. Sinclair has sought to launch a national news hub in the past, and seemed particularly thrilled about the NewsChannel 8 pickup.
“We are especially excited to acquire the NewsChannel 8 local news channel, not only for the content it can provide our existing news stations, but moreover because its regional cable presence provides the perfect platform should we decide to expand it into other markets, ” Sinclair president and CEO David Smith told Adweek, “especially given the amount of local news we produce across our entire portfolio.”
Smith went on to announce this week that its acquisition of NewsChannel 8 is part of a larger plan for a cable news channel incorporating local and national programming, something he called “hybrid” news programming.
Through the deal, Sinclair will also add Allbritton stations in Birmingham, Ala.; Harrisburg, Penn.; Little Rock, Ark.; Tulsa, Okla.; Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va.; and Charleston, S.C.
To read more, visit Adweek.
Brief Take: In a year of big local consolidation, Sinclair’s acquisition is part of a larger plan to create a new cable channel. With this deal, the company, which has involvement with nearly 150 TV stations across the country, claims it will reach a whopping 38.2% of US households.
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