WFSB to be sold to Georgia broadcast company as part of $2.7B deal
The parent company of WFSB-TV, Channel 3 plans to sell the Rocky Hill television station and 16 others it owns as it exits the broadcast news business to focus on its magazine and digital properties.
Atlanta-based Gray Television, Inc. has agreed to purchase WFSB and the other stations from the Meredith Corporation in a deal valued at $2.7 billion.
“The television station portfolios, company cultures, and commitments to localism of Gray and Meredith are highly complementary,” Gray Executive Chairman and CEO Hilton H. Howell said, in a news release. “We are very excited to acquire Meredith’s excellent television stations, and we look forward to welcoming its employees into the Gray family.”
Headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, Meredith has owned WFSB since 1997. Its television properties are scattered across the country and include WGGB-TV in Springfield as well as operations in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Its portfolio of magazines includes Better Homes and Gardens, People, Entertainment Weekly, Shape and Travel + Leisure.
According to the terms of the deal, Meredith will spin off its magazines and digital properties into a new standalone publicly traded company.
“We expect the transaction to unlock meaningful shareholder value as it advances all of the company’s financial priorities: reducing net debt, improving financial flexibility, allocating capital to fast-growing digital and consumer opportunities, and providing returns to shareholders,” Meredith Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Harty said, in a news release. “As a more focused company with an enhanced balance sheet and cash-generating media assets, we will further advance our position as a media leader with trusted brands, a digital business of scale, and unparalleled reach to women.”
Like many other businesses, Meredith saw its revenue decline during the COVID-19 pandemic as advertising dollars dropped off; WFSB-TV made cuts to staff in September as part of companywide cost reductions.
The acquisitions would make Grey the second-largest television broadcast group in the country serving 113 local markets and reaching approximately 36% of U.S. television households.
The proposed sale of WFSB follows the 2019 sale of WTIC-TV, Fox 61 and 18 other stations to Virginia-based Tegna Inc.
Fox 61 had previously been owned by Tribune Media, but the station was required to be sold off because of overlap in the Hartford-New Haven market when Texas-based Nexstar Media Group (owner of WTNH-TV) acquired all of Tribune’s television properties in a $4.1 billion deal.
Russell Blair can be reached at rblair@courant.com.
