NEW YORK & ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FOX Television Stations, Inc.(FTS) and Cox Media Group (CMG) today announced they have entered into an agreement under which FTS will swap its FOX affiliated stations in the Memphis and Boston markets for two CMG stations located in the San Francisco-Bay Area market.
As part of the agreement, FTS will acquire from CMG the FOX affiliate KTVU-TV FOX 2 as well as the independent KICU-TV, both in the San Francisco-Bay area market. In exchange, CMG will acquire FTS’ owned-and-operated WHBQ-TV FOX 13 and WFXT-TV FOX 25, located in the Memphis and Boston markets, respectively. After the deal closes, the Memphis and Boston stations will remain FOX affiliates.
“The addition of KTVU and KICU to our portfolio of owned-and-operated stations provides us with a compelling growth opportunity in a top-10 market,” said Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox Television Stations, Inc. “Our stations group will benefit from both the strong demographics of the Bay area market as well as the alignment with our package of sports rights. I’d like to also take this opportunity to acknowledge the talented Boston and Memphis teams for the great work they do. We are confident they will be in good hands with our partners at Cox.”
“This is the first time we have had a media presence in Boston and Memphis, and CMG is excited about the prospects that WFXT-TV and WHBQ-TV bring to our business,” said CMG President Bill Hoffman. “These new stations fit nicely into CMG’s broadcast portfolio, and we look forward to having a great news presence in these two markets and competing hard with the fine local broadcasters who already reside there.”
Hoffman added, “I would like to recognize and thank the outstanding teams at KTVU and KICU. We are proud of the work they have done over the decades to superserve the San Francisco Bay community with award-winning broadcasting and sales solutions for their advertisers.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals and conditions.
About Fox Television Stations
FOX Television Stations is one of the nation's largest owned-and-operated network broadcast groups, comprising 28 stations in 18 markets and covering nearly 37.35 % of U.S. television homes. This includes six duopolies in the top 10 markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and Houston; as well as duopolies in Minneapolis, Phoenix, Orlando and Charlotte.
About Cox Media Group
Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of CoxReps. Additionally, CMG owns Cox Target Media, which operates Valpak, one of North America’s leading direct marketing companies, and Savings.com, a leading online source for savings. The company’s operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, 57 radio stations, eight daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services. CMG currently operates in more than 20 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including more than 30 million TV viewers, more than 3.5 million print and online newspaper readers, and more than 14 million radio listeners. For more information about Cox Media Group, please check us out online at www.coxmediagroup.com.
