It approved Gannett Co.’s $1.5 billion acquisition of Belo Corp. that was announced in June. The original deal was for Belo’s 20 stations in 15 markets (Gannett's current portfolio contains 23 stations), but on Monday that 20 was reduced to 19 when Gannett agreed to address Justice Department concerns by agreeing to completely spin off Belo’s CBS affiliate KMOV St. Louis (Gannett already owns KSDK, the market’s NBC affiliate), rather than sell it to a “sidecar” company, Sander Media, headed by a former Belo executive.
“Gannett’s KSDK and Belo’s KMOV compete head to head in the sale of broadcast television spot advertising in the St. Louis area, and this rivalry constrains advertising rates,” William J. Baer, Justice’s antitrust chief, said in a statement.
Gannett said it expects the deal to close early next week.
The commission also OK’d Tribune Co.’s purchase of 16 stations in 14 markets from Local TV LLC for $2.7 billion. That deal was announced in July and when it closes, Tribune says, it will be “the largest combined independent broadcast group and content creator in the country.”
Peter Liguori, Tribune’s president-CEO, said in a statement: “The logic and investment thesis underlining our acquisition of Local TV is as powerful as it is simple—in a fragmenting media landscape, there is value in scale, for our viewers, advertisers, networks, cable and satellite partners and, most important, the communities we serve.”
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