DENVER — The Federal Communications Commission Friday approved a deal by Tribune Co. to purchase Local TV Holdings, the owner of KDVR-TV FOX31 Denver.
Local TV LLC owns 16 stations in 14 markets. In July Tribune offered to buy Local TV LLC for $2.7 billion. Tribune says the acquisition will create the largest combined independent broadcast group and content creator in the country.
Peter Liguori, the Tribune Company’s president-CEO, said in a statement: “The logic and investment thesis underlining our acquisition of Local TV is as powerful as it is simple—in a fragmenting media landscape, there is value in scale, for our viewers, advertisers, networks, cable and satellite partners and, most important, the communities we serve.”
Tribune currently owns FOX31 sister station KWGN-TV Colorado’s Own Channel 2.
The FCC also approved Gannett Co.’s $1.5 billion acquisition of Belo Corp. Gannett, which owns USA Today and several TV stations including KUSA in Denver, will take over Belo’s 20 stations in 15 markets.
