TVs
-- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/26/2001
WNAC-TV Providence, R.I.
Price: $2.5 million cash
Buyer: LIN Television Corp., Providence (Gary R. Chapman, president, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc., approximately 70% nonvoting owner); owns/is buying 20 other TVs
Seller: Sunrise Television Corp., St. Petersburg, Fla. (Robert N. Smith, owner); owns/is buying 11 TVs.
Smith is president/59% owner of Smith Broadcasting Partners LP, which is buying WPRI-TV Providence. He also owns
KEYT-TV-AM Santa Barbara, Calif.; 54.2% of Smith Broadcasting Group Inc., which controls three Alaska TVs; and 52% of company that owns 85% of WFFF-TV Burlington, Va. Smith also controls
KOLO-TV Reno, Nev., and WETM-TV Elmira and WKTV(TV) Utica, N.Y. Note: Because Providence lacks eight independent TV owners, Smith has to divest WNAC-TV (Changing Hands, Dec. 11, 2000). However, he retains right to repurchase WNAC-TV at any time for same price.
Facilities: Ch. 64, 3,720 kW visual, 372 kW aural, ant. 1,033 ft.
Affiliation: Fox
