NEW YORK—Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which is making a $5 billion bid for Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., has said it planned to sell nine of its Fox-affiliated TV stations.
The stations are generally in the smallest markets among News Corp.’s 35-station television group, including stations in Denver; St. Louis; Kansas City, Kan.; Greensboro, N.C.; Memphis; and Birmingham, Ala.
They are also not in one of the nine cities in which the company owns two stations. Owning pairs of stations in the same city, also referred to as a duopoly, can save broadcasters money by combining back-office and technical operations.
News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher declined to provide revenues, cash flows or other financial metrics for the stations which would help provide a determination of the potential price they might fetch. He declined to elaborate on the planned sale.
News Corp. had $7.3 billion in cash as of the end of March, according to its most recent financial report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. News Corp. has offered to pay for Dow Jones either with cash or a combination of cash and securities.
The nine stations are WJW in Cleveland; KDVR in Denver; KTVI in St. Louis; WDAF in Kansas City, Kan.; WITI in Milwaukee; KSTU in Salt Lake City; WBRC in Birmingham, Ala.; WHBQ in Memphis; and WGHP in Greensboro, N.C.
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