New York Times sells Broadcast Group for $575 Million

NEW YORK TIMES SELLS BROADCAST GROUP FOR $575 MILLION
[SOURCE: Reuters]
The New York Times Co. said on Thursday it sold its broadcast group, including nine television stations, for $575 million to private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners in order to concentrate on its newspaper business. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year, and includes affiliates of the ABC, NBC and CBS networks in Iowa, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Illinois, Virginia, Pennsylvania and two in Oklahoma. The NYT had previously disclosed plans to complete the sale of its broadcast media group in the first half of 2007. The stations in the deal are WHO Des Moines, KFSM Ft. Smith, Ark., WHNT Huntsville, Ala., WREG Memphis, WQAD Moline, Ill., WTKR Norfolk, KFOR and KAUT in Oklahoma City, and WNEP in Scranton. Oak Hill Capital Partners, with offices in New York, Stamford and Northern California, was part of a consortium that unsuccessfully attempted to purchase the Knight Ridder newspaper company last March. According to its Website, Oak Hill has more than $4.6 billion invested in a wide range of businesses, ranging from restaurants to pharmacies to southwestern cable operator Wometco Cable Corporation.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=industryNews&storyID...

* NY Times Co. Finds Stations Buyer
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6404372.html?display=Breaking...