Media conglomerate News Corp. announced plans Wednesday to sell Denver’s Fox affiliate, KDVR, along with eight other stations around the nation.
The new owner of Fox 31 would be free to change content to another network, said News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher.
“I would assume the new owners would want to keep Fox content, since it’s the No. 1 network,” Butcher said.
The Tribune Co., owner of Channel 2/KWGN-TV, has been under financial stress, and there has been wide speculation that it might sell some of its assets.
“There is so much change going on in the television and media industries that I’m not surprised when you find that there are television properties for sale,” said Patti Dennis, vice president of news at Denver Post partner 9News/KUSA.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. owns 35 stations covering most major media markets, including New York and Washington.
The company owns two stations in each of nine cities. None of those stations is for sale.
Holding two stations in one city allows broadcasters to save money by sharing resources and combining technical operations.
With Fox 31 on the sales block, it is possible another Denver station could buy it and own two stations in the market.
The nine stations to be sold are generally News Corp. holdings in smaller markets.
News Corp. will keep some stations with smaller audiences than Denver’s, but those stations are closer to other affiliates, such as News Corp.’s Ocala, Fla., station, which is near Tampa Bay.
News Corp. declined to comment on what it is hoping to receive in a sale of the stations.
The New York Times Co. sold nine network stations, which were generally smaller than News Corp.’s offerings, last month for $575 million.
Murdoch recently made an unsolicited $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
News Corp. declined to comment on whether selling nine of its stations had anything to do with its Dow Jones bid.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Staff writer Zach Fox can be reached at 303-954-1755 or zfox@denverpost.com.
On the block
The nine News Corp. stations for sale are:
