UPDATE 10/19/2013 8AM: Walt Disney is not now trying to sell
its local ABC television stations, sources have told FOX Business.
The Burbank, Calif.-based media conglomerate was said to be
considering a sale of the broadcast stations back in 2010, when it sold two
smaller market stations in Flint , Mich. , and Toledo ,
Ohio
10/18 Posting....
Walt Disney Co. is looking to hire an investment bank to explore a possible sale of its eight owned and operated television stations, a move that could reap billions, The NY Post has learned.
Disney’s ABC-affiliated stations are in larger markets,
including New York , Los
Angeles and Chicago ,
and reach roughly 23 percent of US TV households.
The is not the first time Disney has flirted with selling
its broadcast group, and sources cautioned that the media giant is still
mulling the idea and may decide against it.
Disney isn’t considering a sale of the ABC network,
according to sources.
Disney CEO Bob Iger is interested in what the broadcast
business could fetch now that station valuations are much higher than when the
company last explored a sale in 2010.
In July, Tribune paid $2.73 billion for 19 stations owned by
Local TV, while Sinclair paid $985 million for seven Allbritton-owned stations.
Earlier, Gannett bought Belo and its 20 stations for $1.5 billion.
There has been a wave of consolidation as companies buy up
TV stations to reap the rising “retransmission” fees cable companies and other
distributors cough up for the right to carry broadcast signals.
The more stations a company owns, the more leverage it has
when it enters negotiations with pay-TV providers such as Comcast and Time
Warner Cable.
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