Just one day after RBR+TVBR confirmed that Imagicomm Communications has decided to sell all of the broadcast television stations it acquired as part of FCC-required Cox Media Group divestments in August 2022, brokerage Kalil & Co. has revealed that four stations in two DMAs have already found a buyer.
Marquee Broadcasting, led on a day-to-day basis by COO Gene Steinberg and owned by Brian and Patricia Lane, has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase longtime NBC affiliate KIEM-3 and CBS-affiliated sibling KVIQ-17 in Eureka-Arcata, Calif.; and two stations in nearby Medford-Ashland-Grants Pass, Ore.: FOX affiliate KMVU-26 and Telemundo-aligned KFBI-48.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed; a LMS filing with the FCC detailing the price Marquee is paying is forthcoming. Closing is anticipated to occur in the second quarter of 2025.
“We are excited to welcome these stations and their employees into the Marquee Broadcasting family,” said Patricia Lane, CEO of Marquee Broadcasting.
David Cerullo, President/CEO of Imagicomm Communications, called the divestment of all of the properties it acquired 2 1/2 years ago part of “a refocus of our strategic direction.”
Noting Imagicomm’s “difficult decision” to sell its stations on California’s North Coast and in Southern Oregon — an area some call “Jefferson” — Cerullo continued, “These stations are committed to serving their respective communities, and we are pleased we were able to
come to terms with Marquee Broadcasting who shares a similar commitment.”
Marquee’s roster of TV stations includes KNIN-9, a FOX affiliate serving Boise, Idaho; and holds licenses for broadcast properties in Walla Walla, Wash., and stations across Wyoming.
Imagicomm paid an eye-popping $488 million for a group of stations previously owned by Brian Brady-led Northwest Broadcasting, in addition to Memphis and Tulsa stations historically linked to CMG.
KMVU was launched in August 1994 by Salmon River Communications and acquired by Brady’s group in 1998. KFBI, a digital low-power facility, was added in 2013; it signed on the air in 2006 under Sainte Partners II ownership.
KIEM, billed as “The Spirit of the North Coast,” is Eureka’s first TV station and dates to October 1953, when the Smullin family signed it on the air. Pollack/Belz Broadcasting owned it from 1996 through 2017. KVIQ-LD is a reborn version of what had been KVIQ-6, a property whose ownership included Miller Broadcasting, Ackerley Group and Clear Channel Communications.