Prince George
County, VA

TV station WTVR in Richmond to get new owners


Television station WTVR in Richmond will be getting a new owner.

Nexstar Media Group Inc.’s $4.1 billion purchase of Chicago-based Tribune Media Co. received approval by the Federal Communications Commission on Monday, paving the way to create the nation’s largest local TV station ownership group. The deal is expected to close later this week.

As part of the deal, Nexstar will sell eight stations, including WTVR-Channel 6, to Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps Co. 

Irving, Texas-based Nexstar has a portfolio of 174 stations, including WRIC in Richmond. Tribune Media owns and operates 42 local stations, including WTVR in Richmond.

One of the Richmond stations had to be sold in order for the deal to gain approval from federal regulators.

The local CBS affiliate, plus WTKR and WGNT in Norfolk and five other stations now owned or operated by Tribune Media, will be sold to E.W. Scripps Co. for $580 million to comply with the FCC’s duopoly ownership rule and to comply with regulatory ownership limits.

The deal to buy Tribune Media was announced in December. The Justice Department approved the deal and the divestiture sale in late July. 

“The commission found that the proposed merger would provide several public interest benefits to viewers of current Tribune and Nexstar stations,” the FCC said in a statement Monday. “For example, viewers would benefit from their local stations having increased access to Nexstar’s Washington, D.C., news bureau and state news bureaus.” 

Nexstar will sell a total of 21 stations for $1.32 billion as part of its buyout agreement with Tribune Media — 11 stations to be sold to Tegna Inc., two to Circle City Broadcasting Inc. and the eight to E.W. Scripps.

Tribune Media has owned WTVR since December 2013, buying the station from Local TV Holdings LLC. It also has managed the operations of WTKR, the CBS affiliate in Norfolk, and the CW network’s WGNT since then.

WTVR went on the air in April 1948 as the South’s first television station. Channel 6 has had a variety of owners over the years.

WRIC was acquired in November 2013 by then Richmond-based Media General Inc. when the communications company combined with Nashville, Tenn.-based New Young Broadcasting Holding Co. Inc. Nexstar acquired Media General in January 2017, giving it ownership of WRIC.

Atlanta-based Gray Television Inc. bought Raycom Media Inc., the employee-owned company that owned WWBT in Richmond, in January for $3.65 billion, creating the nation’s third-largest television broadcast group.