{"id":47210,"date":"2025-07-07T23:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T23:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/47210\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T23:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T23:33:09","slug":"local-tv-groups-e-w-scripps-and-gray-media-swap-stations-in-five-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/47210\/","title":{"rendered":"Local TV Groups E.W. Scripps And Gray Media Swap Stations In Five Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tGray Media<\/a> and the E.W. Scripps<\/a> Co., two of the largest U.S. owners of local TV<\/a> stations, have engineered a swap of stations in five small and mid-sized markets.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe move will create new duopolies, coveted sources of extra revenue within a single market allowed under federal broadcast<\/a> ownership rules, for each company. <\/p>\n

\n\tGray will acquire WSYM, a Fox affiliate in\u00a0Lansing, MI; and KATC, an ABC station in\u00a0Lafayette, LA. Taking over WSYM will give Gray a duopoly in\u00a0Lansing, where the company already owns NBC affiliate WILX. The acquisition of KATC will complement Gray\u2019s presence in the Southeast, which includes all other DMAs in\u00a0Louisiana.<\/p>\n

\n\tScripps, meanwhile, gets Gray\u2019s KKTV, a CBS affiliate in\u00a0Colorado Springs, CO, where Scripps already owns NBC station KOAA. Also in Colorado, Scripps is acquiring NBC affiliate KKCO and low power ABC station KJCT in\u00a0Grand Junction. The company is also getting CBS affiliate KMVT and low-power Fox station KSVT-LD (Fox) in\u00a0Twin Falls, ID where Scripps owns low power station KSAW-LD (ABC). <\/p>\n

\n\tThe addition to the portfolio adds to Scripps\u2019 position in the West, where it owns and operates television stations across\u00a0Montana,\u00a0Idaho,\u00a0Colorado,\u00a0Utah,\u00a0Arizona,\u00a0Nevada\u00a0and\u00a0California.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe companies expect to close the swaps by the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\n\tLocal TV remains a significant cash-flow generator for station owners, but ongoing declines in viewership and advertising are ramping up pressure on the operations. Groups are agitating for federal policymakers to revise station ownership rules, which cap ownership at a total reach of 39% of the U.S. A loosening of the rules, which the current Federal Communications Commission has discussed, could kick off a new round of consolidation for the sector. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are very pleased to be executing a successful set of station swaps with Scripps that brings great value to both companies,\u201d said\u00a0Gray President\u00a0and Co-CEO\u00a0Pat LaPlatney, in a statement. \u201cAt Gray, due to the strategic nature of these two acquisitions and the benefits to our operations, we anticipate expanding the news staff and hours of live local newscasts on both stations soon after closing the acquisitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tScripps CEO Adam Symson, who presides over a company that owns not only local stations but the ION broadcast network and a number of multicast networks and digital assets, offered a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese new stations will allow Scripps to expand upon our local sports and news strategies in key growth geographies for us,\u201d he said. \u201cThe resulting efficiencies will allow us to further invest in our connection to our communities, offering even richer coverage of these neighborhoods and regions.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gray Media and the E.W. Scripps Co., two of the largest U.S. owners of local TV stations, have…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[3852,36494,171,36495,36496,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-47210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-broadcast","9":"tag-e-w-scripps","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-gray-media","12":"tag-local-tv","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114814570018449386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}