ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Heartland Media, LLC (“Heartland”) and MSouth Equity Partners (“MSouth”) announced today that they have entered into an agreement to purchase five stations from Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (“Nexstar”) and Media General, Inc. (“Media General”) for $115,000,000 in cash following the acquisition of Media General by Nexstar. Heartland and MSouth formed a new company, USA Television MidAmerica Holdings, LLC (“USA MidAmerica”) for the purpose of purchasing the following stations:
| City of License | DMA Rank | Station | Affiliation | Owner | |||||||||||
| 1 | Ft. Wayne, IN | 111 | WFFT-TV | Fox | Nexstar | ||||||||||
| 2 | Rochester, MN | 153 | KIMT | CBS | Media General | ||||||||||
| 3 | Terre Haute, IN | 155 | WTHI-TV | CBS | Media General | ||||||||||
| 4 | Lafayette, IN | 187 | WLFI-TV | CBS | Media General | ||||||||||
| 5 | Saint Joseph, MO | 201 | KQTV | ABC | Nexstar |
Bob Prather, President and CEO of Heartland, said, “We are excited at the opportunity to add these excellent stations to the group of stations already being managed under the Heartland umbrella. Both the stations and the communities they serve fit the markets we enjoy working in. With the experience and team of employees each station brings, we expect to build on the strong bases that have been established by Nexstar and Media General.” Prather went on to say, “My plan is to follow the same formula I began back when my partner and I bought control of Gray Television in 1993. That is, build a television group by acquiring Number 1 rated stations, Big Four affiliates with strong local news operations targeting university towns and state capitals that are deeply ingrained in the fabric of their communities.”
The purchase of WFFT-TV, KIMT, WTHI-TV, WLFI-TV and KQTV by USA MidAmerica is subject to FCC approval, other regulatory approvals, the closing of the Nexstar/ Media General transaction and other customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed on, or about the time of, the closing of the Nexstar/Media General transaction, which is expected later this year. The five new stations will result in a total of ten stations owned and operated by Heartland and MSouth through various entities.
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