Gray Television has closed its $3.6 billion purchase of Raycom Media, along with the sale of nine TV stations as a condition for regulatory approval of the deal.
With the addition of Raycom assets, Gray now owns the number one or two TV station in 85 markets, according to Comscore. The combined company is the nation’s No. 3 television group, covering 92 markets and 24 percent of U.S. TV households.
In order to move ahead with the merger, the Department of Justice required the companies to divest Big Four affiliate stations in markets where Gray and Raycom competed against each other head-to-head including: Knoxville, Tenn.; Toledo, Ohio; Waco–Temple–Bryan, Texas; Tallahassee, Fla.,–Thomasville, Ga., Augusta, Ga.,; Odessa-Midland, Texas; Panama City, Fla.; Albany, Ga.; and Dothan, Ala.
E.W. Scripps Company was one of the buyers, announcing earlier this week that it closed its $55 million acquisition of three ABC-affiliated TV stations in Florida and Texas owned by Raycom Media.
At closing, Hilton Howell is executive chairman and CEO, while former Raycom president and CEO Pat LaPlatney becomes Gray’s president and co-CEO.
Immediately prior to closing, Raycom spun-off two wholly owned subsidiaries, CNHI and PureCars Automotive, to its shareholders.
“Combining our company with the excellent Raycom stations and the superb Raycom employees will create a powerhouse local media operation,” Howell said in a statement, when the deal was first announced in June.