Fox 61 sale gets FCC’s OK as part of larger deal

The Federal Communications Commission has given its approval for the corporate parent of WTNH to acquire television stations owned by Tribune Media.

Nexstar Media Group’s acquisition of Tribune Media’s television stations was announced in December 2018. As part of the approval of the acquisition, federal regulators also approved a divestiture plan allowing Hartfordbased Fox 61, WTIC-TV and its sister station WCCT to be sold to TEGNA Inc., the former broadcast division of media giant Gannett. The deal to sell the two Connecticut stations was announced in March to allow the NextstarTribune Media television deal to move forward and make it compliant with local and national television ownership rules. The divestiture of the Connecticut stations was part of a sell-off of a total of 21 local television stations to TEGNA, The E.W. Scripps Co. and Circle City Broadcasting I, according to Nexstar officials.

With the divestiture, Nextstar will hold 144 station licenses in 115 markets nationwide.

Texas-based Nexstar announced the FCC’s approval of the deal Monday. The deal previously had been approved by the U.S. Justice Department in July.

Ben Bogardus, an assistant professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University, said the FCC approvals mean an end of uncertainty for Fox 61 employees.

“Tribune stations went on the market in 2016, and a previous deal with Sinclair fell through in the summer of 2018,” Bogardus said. “Knowing that Fox 61 is officially going to become a TEGNA station will let station management better plan for the future instead of living in a state of ‘ownership limbo.’ For viewers, it could eventually mean a new on-air look for Fox 61, as TEGNA works to make the station more similar to its other properties, both graphically and in how it covers the news.”

When the Nexstar deal was announced, he said, it was always contingent on Fox 61 being simultaneously being bought and sold off to a third owner.

A potential downside for both WTNH and Fox 61 is that all the money spent by TEGNA in making their respective purchases could result in cost-cutting efforts at the local stations, according to Bogardus.

“It’s just natural for that to happen because they are paying a lot of money for these stations,” he said.

The greater risk of cost-cutting could come at WTNH, according to Bogardus.

That’s because Nexstar spent $4.6 billion in January 2017 to acquire Richmond, Va.-based Media General, which owned the New Haven-based television station at the time. The Tribune Media deal cost Nextstar $4.1 billion.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com