Gray Media to acquire WLTZ, KJTV broadcast stations

Gray Media (GTN) has reached an agreement to acquire SagamoreHill Broadcasting’s WLTZ, the NBC affiliate for the Columbus, Georgia, market and KJTV, the Fox affiliate for the Lubbock, Texas, market. For the past several years, Gray has provided back-office services to both stations through its Columbus ABC affiliate WTVM and its Lubbock NBC affiliate KCBD, respectively. Gray anticipates closing these transactions in the fourth quarter of this year following receipt of regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. In that regard, Gray will request waivers of the FCC’s current local broadcast ownership rule under the same “failing station” waiver standard through which the FCC has authorized similar combinations over the past 25 years, including earlier this year in connection with Gray’s acquisition from SagamoreHill Broadcasting of KXLT, the FOX affiliated television station in the Rochester, Minnesota, market.