New Vision Buys Montecito Stations

New Vision Television has signed an agreement to acquire TV stations KOIN Portland (Ore.), KHON Honolulu, KSN Wichita and KSNT Topeka, along with the CW affiliates in Honolulu and Topeka, from Montecito Broadcast Group. New Vision acquires all assets and stock from Montecito.

The stations include two NBC affiliates, a CBS and a Fox. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

New Vision Chairman/CEO Jason Elkin says the acquisition gives the company diversity in terms of both geography and affiliation. “We were very much East Coast and Midwest, and now we’re all over the country,” he says. “And in terms of affiliations, we’ve got everything but Telemundo. 


Elkin would not disclose the price of the deal, but said it worked out to about 14 times cash flow.


Last year, Los Angeles-based New Vision acquired WIAT Birmingham and KIMT Mason City, IA, from Media General, and WKBN and WLFX, both Youngstown, OH, from Piedmont. Elkin says New Vision will stay in shop mode. “We’re planning to continue to acquire,” he says, “but first we’ll spend some time assimilating.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.