Former Benedek Chief Yager Buys TV Stations

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

James Yager, former head of Benedek Broadcasting until its merger with Gray Television in 2002, has struck a deal for three TV stations in midsized markets, two of which used to belong to Benedek.

Yager’s Barrington Broadcasting bought two stations from Chelsey Broadcasting Co., ABC affiliate WHOI-TV Quincy, Ill., and CBS affiliate KHQA-TV Quincy, Ill., and purchased NBC affiliate WEYI-TV Flint-Saginaw, Mich., from LIN TV.

The deal marks the first of what are expected to be a number of purchases in 2004 for Barrington, which was formed in 2003 and is heavily populated with former Benedek executives.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.