If Nexstar Buys Bulk of Newport Stations, Is Nexstar Then Off the Block?

Big story in the WSJ on a bunch of the Newport TV stations going to Nexstar, Sinclair and Cox, with Nexstar grabbing the largest portion of the stations.

That begs the question of what becomes of Nexstar’s own efforts to sell itself.  It was just about a year ago that Nexstar announced it had “decided to explore and evaluate strategic alternatives intended to maximize shareholder value, including a possible sale of the Company.”

Nexstar said at the time that there was no timetable for the process.

President/CEO Perry Sook was asked about the process  in November, when he said it was in the “middle innings,” with a number of parties issuing diligence requests and seeking site visits. “We are actively engaged,” he said.

Did Nexstar give itself a calendar year? Sook did not respond to a call for comment this morning.

Execs at Cox and Sinclair, for their part, did not respond to calls about the Newport stations either.