Gannett to buy TV station owner Belo for $1.5B

[TexasTowelie]

McLEAN, Va. — Gannett is buying Dallas-based broadcaster Belo Corp., owner of WFAA TV (Channel 8), for about $1.5 billion in cash, significantly boosting its television business.

Under the agreement announced today, Gannett will buy Belo for $13.75 per share. That represents a 28 percent premium over Belo's closing price on Wednesday.

Gannett, one of the largest newspaper publishers in the U.S., also will assume $715 million in debt.

In 2008, Belo Corp., the oldest continuously operating business in Texas, spun off its newspaper division, including its flagship Dallas Morning News, into a publicly-traded company called A. H. Belo Corp., and kept its 20 television stations, including WFAA, Houston’s KHOU, Austin’s KVUE and KENS in San Antonio. The Gannett deal does not affect the newspaper company, which also owns the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/06/13/4934284/gannett-to-buy-tv-station-owner.html#storylink=cpy

[derby378]

1. This is not going to end well

Belo was a conservative media outlet that sided against Steve Wilson and Jane Akre, but at least it was an independent conservative media outlet as far as I could reckon. And media consolidation continues...