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Media

ION Media joins Cerberus and Hicks in bid for Tribune Media

By
Keith J. Kelly and
Josh Kosman
Published Nov. 13, 2018, 2:24 p.m. ET

The auction of TV broadcasting giant Tribune Media is heating up.

ION Media — a privately held operator of 70 stations across the US — has joined buyout firm Cerberus Capital and Hicks Equity Partners in a bid to buy Tribune, according to a source close to the situation.

Tribune, whose 42 US stations include WPIX in New York and WGN in Chicago, is also being stalked by buyout firm Apollo Global Management and Texas-based NexStar Media, which owns 171 stations nationwide.

Nexstar is hoping for better luck this time around as its last bid was eclipsed by conservative-leaning local-TV empire Sinclair Broadcasting. The latter thought it had a $3.9 billion deal to buy Tribune last spring until the Federal Communications Commission squelched it in July.

That opened up a new round of bidding that has also attracted interest from Byron Allen, the comedian-turned-media-mogul who surprised the industry in the spring when he bought the Weather Channel. Allen is said to be bidding through his media firm, Entertainment Studios.

ION under CEO Brendan Burgess has been on an expansion drive in recent years, and now has at least one TV station in the top 20 markets nationally. It also is the biggest owner of UHF stations in the country.

ION’s participation would give the private equity players a much-needed strategic partner. Tom Hicks, the founder of Hicks Equity Partners, is also head of the Super PAC America First, which is a big booster of President Trump.

Cerberus CEO and co-founder Steve Feinberg is also a Trump booster, having served on the now-dissolved economic advisory council that Trump put together shortly after his election.

Second-round bids are expected in mid-December.