By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
The proposed sale to KQ-2 to the St. Joseph News-Press appears to be off.
KQTV reports Heartland Media President Robert Prather has announced Heartland has terminated the tentative $13.6 million deal to sell KQTV to the News-Press & Gazette Company.
The pending sale of the St. Joseph television station to the corporation which owns the St. Joseph News-Press was announced in April.
Prather sent a memo to KQTV staff:
“We are announcing that the transaction announced last April to sell KQTV to News-Press Gazette has been called off. KQTV is one of the great legacy television stations in the country with the market’s leading news programs in every time period. Heartland has been proud to invest in KQTV to add to its news gathering capabilities, expand its HD coverage, and provide the market’s best weather coverage technology."
The Radio and Television Business Report suggests a recent court ruling might have played a major role in scuttling the deal. The trade publication says the proposed sale to KQTV to the News-Press & Gazette Company was one of the biggest transactions following a November 2017 vote by the Federal Communications Committee eliminating cross-ownership rules for newspapers and broadcast media, such as radio and television.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals last month overturned the FCC and told the agency to reconsider its rule, stating the FCC didn’t take into account how its rule change would affect minority ownership of broadcast media.
Radio and Television Business reports a hand-delivered letter to the FCC formally withdrew Heartland’s request that the agency approve the sale. A representative of Heartland told RBR+TVBR that it took the action because of the FCC’s delay in approving the sale and the uncertainty caused by the Third District ruling.
Heartland Media acquired KQTV from Nexstar Media Group in 2016 in a five-station transaction, reportedly worth $115 million.