There was no comment Wednesday from NBC Universal or Post-Newsweek Stations about the report by the Miami Herald that the station group is expected to buy WTVJ-TV, the NBC station that was put on the market last March along with WVIT-TV in Hartford, Conn.
An NBCU spokeswoman declined to comment. Post-Newsweek Stations President Alan Frank was traveling and not available for comment.
The Herald story said terms were not available but that previous reports had suggested that the NBC station might bring between $350 million and $400 million.
A source who had spoken to people involved in the transaction said Wednesday that an aggressive bid in the range of $250 million had been rejected by NBCU.
The deal, which would give Post-Newsweek Stations a duopoly with its ABC-affiliated WPLG-TV, would be subject to Federal Communications Commission approval.
Industry observers said such a deal would meet the legal requirements for approval as a duopoly but that advocacy and public policy groups are likely to voice noisy opposition to it. Since WTVJ and NBCU-owned Telemundo’s flagship station, WSCV-TV, have been operating as a duopoly, there already are three duopolies in the market. Should the deal go through, there would continue to be three duopolies.
WPLG is the most-watched station in prime time in the Miami market, while WTVJ ranks sixth among the 11 local stations in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, which is the 16th largest in the country.
(Editor: Baumann)