Just two weeks after the FCC approved the transfer of WNDU-TV South Bend, Ind., from Notre Dame University to Gray Television, the parties have closed on the $85 million deal.
Gray had sought a waiver to buy the station even though it owns a nearby newspaper. The FCC has proposed dropping the ban on newspaper/TV station crossownership, but that ban remains in place, at least until the FCC rewrites ownership rules at the direction of a Philadelphia appeals court.
Gray has promised to spin off the weekly The Goshen News (circulation 16,094), and the FCC has approved the sale and given it six months to complete the spin-off.
Kalil & Company brokered the all-cash deal for the NBC affiliate.
