IRVING, Texas & GREEN BAY, Wis. & MARQUETTE, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) announced today that it completed the previously announced purchase of the assets of WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV, the CBS affiliates serving the Green Bay, Wisconsin and Marquette, Michigan markets, and has appointed Joseph Denk Vice President and General Manager of both stations and their associated e-Media operations.
The WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV stations were purchased from an affiliate of Liberty Media Corporation for $20 million and are expected to be immediately accretive to Nexstar’s operating results. Reflecting the completion of the transaction, Nexstar owns, operates, programs or provides sales and other services to 13 CBS affiliates and a total of 65 television stations and related digital signals in 36 markets in 16 states, and reaches approximately 13.5 million television households.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group President and CEO, Perry A. Sook, commented on the transaction, “The acquisition of WFRV and WJMN brings immediate strategic and financial benefits to Nexstar as it expands and diversifies our station portfolio, is de-leveraging on a debt-to-cash-flow basis and marks our entrée to Wisconsin and Michigan which complement our existing Midwest operations. Under Nexstar’s ownership both stations will realize additional retransmission revenues as well as synergistic operating improvements. As such, the purchase price for the two stations is less than five times the average 2010/2011 pro-forma projected cash flow. On a pro-forma basis the acquisition is immediately accretive and we expect WFRV and WJMN to contribute to our results for the second half of 2011.”
Sook added, “In addition to CBS’ strong prime-time offerings, we are committed to bringing Green Bay and Marquette viewers the best local news and locally-produced programming and last week, WFRV, Channel 5, launched the Green Bay area's first high-definition newscast. With both WFRV and WJMN broadcasting in HD, we have a strong platform for marketing solutions for local and national advertisers which we plan to expand with the launch of Nexstar’s e-Media and mobile offerings through our proven Community Portal model.”
A Wisconsin native, Mr. Denk was born in Madison, raised in Milwaukee and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Platteville. Since June 2008, Mr. Denk has served as Vice President and General Manager of the Nexstar-owned FOX affiliate, WQRF-TV and (through a management services agreement), Mission Broadcasting-owned ABC affiliate WTVO-TV and community portal Mystateline.com which serve the Rockford, Illinois market. Mr. Denk will continue to report to Tim Busch, Executive Vice President and Co-COO of Nexstar Broadcasting.
Before joining Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Mr. Denk served as General Manager of KFXA-TV and KGAN-TV (through a shared services agreement with Sinclair) in Cedar Rapids Iowa from 1996 – 2008. He also held leadership positions at WRSP-TV in Springfield, Illinois and KDUB-TV in Dubuque Iowa and served as the former Chairman of the FOX Affiliate Board and a former board member of the Iowa Broadcasters Association.
Commenting on Joe Denk’s appointment, Tim Busch said, “Under Joe’s leadership, our Rockford operations have performed very well. His years of experience, respect within Nexstar and his Wisconsin roots are all a perfect fit to lead our newly acquired operations in Green Bay and Marquette.
“As Nexstar’s General Manager in Rockford, Joe built an outstanding team that expanded both our revenue share in the market and our audience footprint while focusing on community leadership and developing creative marketing solutions for our advertising clients. Joe also brings a wealth of experience working with local sports franchises through the creation of programming alliances with local colleges and the Mid-American Conference. His passion for local broadcasting and Wisconsin will serve viewers, advertisers, Nexstar and our teams in Green Bay and Marquette well, and I look forward to continuing to work with him as we move forward.”
According to Nielsen Media’s 2010-2011 Local Market Estimates, the Green Bay and Marquette DMA’s are ranked as the 71st and 179th largest television markets in the country, respectively.
Nexstar’s purchase consideration for WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV included $17.5 million of cash, which it financed through borrowings under its senior credit facility, and the issuance to an affiliate of Liberty Media Corporation of 334,292 Nexstar Broadcasting Group Class A shares valued at $2.5 million. The shares issued as partial consideration in the transaction are unregistered, carry piggyback registration rights and are subject to a six month lock up period.
About Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group is a leading diversified media company that leverages localism to bring new services and value to consumers and advertisers through its traditional media, e-MEDIA, digital and mobile media platforms. Nexstar owns, operates, programs or provides sales and other services to 65 television stations and related digital signals in 36 markets in 16 states and reaches approximately 13.5 million viewers or approximately 11.6% of all U.S. television households. The stations are affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, MyNetworkTV, The CW, LATV, TV Azteca and Telemundo. The Company’s 33 community portal websites offer additional hyper-local content and verticals for consumers and advertisers.
Forward-Looking Statements
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