Gray Media will acquire ABC-Fox-CBS-NBC affiliate stations in 10 markets owned by Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group for $171 million.
Stations in the deal include ABC’s WAAY in Huntsville, Alabama, and WSIL in Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg; CBS/Fox’s WEVV in Evansville, Indiana, and WTHI in Terre Haute, Indiana; Fox’s WFFT in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and WCOV in Montgomery, Alabama; Fox/NBC’s KADN in Lafayette, Louisiana; ABC/NBC’s WTVA in Columbus-Tupelo, Mississippi; NBC’s WREX; and CBS’ WLFI in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The deal brings Gray Media into three new markets – Columbus-Tupelo, Mississippi; Terre Haute, Indiana; and West Lafayette, Indiana. Gray also expects that it will strengthen its presence in seven other markets by creating new duopolies to “preserve and deepen public service to their communities with expanded local news, local weather and local sports programming.”
It is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approval, including certain waivers of FCC local ownership rules and other customary closing conditions. Moelis & Company LLC acted as exclusive financial adviser to Allen Media Group in the transaction.
In recent months, the National Association of Broadcasters, conservative groups and members of Congress have all lobbied the Federal Communications Commission, asking for the agency to modernize broadcast ownership rules, which currently limit a single entity’s ability to own TV stations that collectively reach more than 39% of U.S. TV households.
There’s also the “Top 4” rule, which restricts the number of big four broadcast TV network affiliates a company can own in a single market.
During a panel discussion hosted by the Milken Institute in May, FCC chairman Brendan Carr signaled support of TV station ownership reform being one way to empower local broadcasters, calling the current rules “arcane” and “artificial.”
But experts have told TheWrap that there are a number of hurdles for local TV station owners looking to pursue M&A besides just regulatory approval, including declining station and retransmission values due to cord-cutting and higher production costs and debt. In May 2024, Allen Media Group underwent a round of layoffs across every division.
Over the last six years, Allen Media Group has invested over $1 billion in acquiring television stations and has become one of the largest independent, privately held owners of Big 4 network-affiliated stations.
The company hired Moelis in June to explore financial and strategic alternatives, including a potential sale of its 28 owned and operated ABC-NBC-CBS-Fox affiliate television stations in 21 U.S. markets.
At the time, Allen said that the company had received “numerous inquiries and written offers for most of our television stations” and that they’d use any sale proceeds to significantly reduce the company’s debt load of around $1.5 billion. An individual familiar with the matter previously told TheWrap that Allen Media Group’s portfolio of TV stations make up about 35% to 40% of its revenue.
In addition to the stations, AMG has 10 24-hour HD cable television networks serving nearly 300 million subscribers, broadcast syndication, HBCU GO Sports, five digital streaming platforms and the free-streaming AVOD service, Local Now.
