CHICAGO (AFX) - Tribune Co. said Thursday it has agreed to sell WLVI-TV in Boston to Sunbeam Television Corp. for $113.7 million, its third announced sale of a TV station in little more than three months.
The sale of WLVI (Channel 56) is part of Chicago-based Tribune's plan, announced May 30, to sell at least $500 million in assets to boost its stock price.
The purchase covers WLVI's assets only, and the station's more than 100 workers will remain employees of Tribune, said Ed Ansin, Sunbeam's president.
But a Tribune news release did not address their employment status, and a Tribune spokesman did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Ansin said he expects to add about 30 employees at Sunbeam's other Boston-based station, WHDH, including some from WLVI. They will produce a 10 p.m. nightly news broadcast.
The deal still needs approval from Tribune's board of directors and federal regulators.
The purchase comes as WLVI transitions from the WB network to the newly created CW network, the successor to the WB and UPN networks.
Tribune acquired WLVI in 1994 from Gannett Co. for about $25 million.
Privately held Sunbeam is based in Miami, where it owns WSVN-TV and real estate holdings.
Tribune operates 25 TV stations along with cable superstation WGN. Its holdings also include 10 large-city daily newspapers, WGN-AM radio and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
Tribune completed the sale of WATL-TV in Atlanta to Gannett Co. Aug. 7 for $180 million after announcing the sale of Albany's WCWN-TV to Freedom Communications Inc. in June for $17 million.
In other deals, it sold 2.8 million shares of Time Warner Inc. stock in June for net proceeds of about $46 million and currently is reviewing bids for the San Fernando property where a Los Angeles Times printing facility was closed earlier this year.
Shares in the company closed at $31.25 on the New York Stock Exchange and were unchanged in later-hours activity following the announcement. Management has been under pressure from investors to boost the stock, which lost half its value between early 2004 and this past spring.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
© 2006 AFX News
