Newport Television


Newport Television, LLC was a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications.

History

In September 2007, Newport agreed to sell KFTY and KVOS-TV to for $26.6 million. The deal was set to be completed in March 2008 but eventually collapsed due to LK's lender refusing to provide the funding; KFTY and KVOS have since been sold to other companies. As of October 10, 2007, Newport had agreed to sell KION-TV, KMUV-LP, K44DN, KKFX-CA, KCOY-TV to Cowles Publishing Company for $41 million. Newport's purchase of the Clear Channel stations and those being resold were granted conditional Federal Communications Commission approval, subject to divestitures of media properties owned by other affiliates of Providence Equity Partners in several other markets. The entire deal closed on March 14, 2008 after several stations, in addition to those being divested by Newport, were placed into trust companies.
In March 2012, Providence Equity Partners began to explore strategic alternatives for Newport Television, which may lead to a sale of the group. In July 2012, it was officially confirmed that Nexstar Broadcasting Group would acquire twelve of Newport's stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group would acquire six, and Cox Media Group would acquire four. As part of the same deal, Newport's CMS operations, branded as Inergize Digital, would go to Nexstar. This deal was followed eight days later by the announcement that WXXA-TV in Albany, New York would be sold to Shield Media, LLC, who would then enter into joint sales and shared services agreements with Young Broadcasting's WTEN.
Four other Newport stations were not part of either of the July 2012 deals, with the company continuing to pursue buyers for those stations; Nexstar would announce its acquisition of two of those stations, KGET-TV in Bakersfield, California and KGPE in Fresno, on November 5. On November 26, Newport announced that KMTR would be sold to Fisher Communications. Because Fisher already owned KVAL-TV, Fisher assigned the rights to acquire the FCC license to Roberts Media, LLC, which Fisher then entered into a Joint Sales and Shared Services Agreement with KVAL.
On October 23, the FCC granted approval to the sale of the Jacksonville and Tulsa stations to Cox, plus the Albany station to Shield Media. This was followed the next day by the FCC approval of the July sale of the stations to Nexstar except for the two in Little Rock being sold to Mission Broadcasting, which were later approved on December 10. On November 19, the FCC granted approval of the remaining stations from the July deal to Sinclair.
Nineteen of the stations involved in the July deal were consummated on December 3, 2012. On the same day, Sinclair announced that they would acquire non-license assets of WHAM-TV, while the license was transferred to Deerfield Media. On January 23, 2013, the FCC granted approvals of the Newport California stations to Nexstar; and on January 30, the FCC granted approval to the WHAM transaction to Sinclair. On April 24, 2013, the FCC granted its approval on Newport's final station, KMTR to Roberts Media. This was after an announcement that Fisher was being sold to Sinclair for $373 million, two weeks prior. On June 1, the KMTR sale was consummated, completing the disestablishment of the company.

Former Newport-owned Stations

Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license.
City of license / MarketStationChannel
TV 		Years ownedCurrent ownership status
Mobile, Alabama - Pensacola, FloridaWPMI-TV15 2008–2012NBC affiliate owned by Deerfield Media
Mobile, Alabama - Pensacola, FloridaWJTC44 2008–2012Independent station owned by Deerfield Media
Fairbanks, AlaskaKTVF11 2008–2012NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Little Rock, ArkansasKLRT-TV16 2008–2013Fox affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting
Little Rock, ArkansasKASN38 2008–2013The CW affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting
Bakersfield, CaliforniaKGET-TV17 2008–2013 1NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Bakersfield, CaliforniaKKEY-LP11 2008–2013Telemundo affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Fresno, CaliforniaKGPE47 2008–2013 1CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Monterey - Salinas, CaliforniaKION-TV46 2008CBS affiliate owned by News-Press & Gazette Company
Monterey - Salinas, CaliforniaKCBA35 2008Fox affiliate owned by Seal Rock Broadcasters, LLC
Monterey - Salinas, CaliforniaKMUV-LP232008Telemundo affiliate, owned by News-Press & Gazette Company
Santa Maria, CaliforniaKCOY-TV12 2008CBS affiliate owned by VistaWest Media, LLC
Santa Maria, CaliforniaKKFX-CA242008Fox affiliate owned by News-Press & Gazette Company
Santa Rosa - San Francisco, CaliforniaKFTY50 2008–2011Azteca América owned-and-operated station, KEMO-TV, owned by HC2 Holdings
Jacksonville, FloridaWAWS30 2008–2012Fox affiliate, WFOX-TV, owned by Cox Media Group
Jacksonville, FloridaWTEV-TV47 2008–2012 1CBS affiliate, WJAX-TV, owned by Hoffman Communications, Inc.
Wichita, KansasKSAS-TV24 2008–2012Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Wichita, KansasKMTW36 2MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Mercury Broadcasting Company
Hoisington, KansasKOCW
'		14 2008–2012Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Salina, KansasKAAS
'		18 2008–2012Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Albany - Schenectady - Troy, New YorkWXXA-TV23 2008–2012Fox affiliate owned by Shield Media
Binghamton, New YorkWIVT34 2008–2012ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Binghamton, New YorkWBGH-CA20 2008–2012NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Elmira, New YorkWETM-TV18 2008–2012NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Rochester, New YorkWHAM-TV13 2008–2013ABC affiliate owned by Deerfield Media
Syracuse, New YorkWSYR-TV9 2008–2012ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Watertown, New YorkWWTI50 2008–2012ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Cincinnati, OhioWKRC-TV12 2008–2012CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Tulsa, OklahomaKOKI-TV23 2008–2012Fox affiliate owned by Cox Media Group
Tulsa, OklahomaKMYT-TV41 2008–2012MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Cox Media Group
Eugene, OregonKMTR16 2008–2013NBC affiliate owned by Roberts Media, LLC
Coos Bay, OregonKMCB
'		23 2008–2013NBC affiliate owned by Roberts Media, LLC
Roseburg, OregonKTCW
'		46 2008–2013NBC affiliate owned by Roberts Media, LLC
Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaWHP-TV21 2008–2012CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaWLYH-TV15 3Comet TV affiliate, WXBU, owned by Howard Stirk Holdings
Jackson, TennesseeWJKT16 2008–2012Fox affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Memphis, TennesseeWPTY-TV24 2008–2012ABC affiliate, WATN-TV, owned by Tegna Inc.
Memphis, TennesseeWLMT30 2008–2012The CW affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
San Antonio, TexasWOAI-TV4 2008–2012 1NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Salt Lake City, UtahKTVX4 2008–2012ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Salt Lake City, UtahKUCW30 2008–2012 1The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Bellingham, Washington - Vancouver, British Columbia
KVOS-TV12 2008–2012Heroes & Icons owned-and-operated station, owned by Weigel Broadcasting

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