This week the Department of Justice approved a merger between Gray Television and Raycom with a few stipulations: they need to sell a few stations.
With the acquisition, Raycom Media Gray Television will become the third-largest owner of broadcast TV stations in the United States. The new company will own 142 full-power television stations in 92 markets. The deal is worth $3.46 billion, and Wells Fargo will finance $2.525 billion of the deal.
“Without the required divestitures, Gray’s merger with Raycom threatens serious competitive harm to cable subscribers and small businesses,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said in a statement.
Gray Television had already planned to sell nine stations to help get regulatory approval, and it looks like the DOJ has agreed that these nine stations will need to be sold. These are stations in markets that Gray Television already had local TV stations in.
You can see the full break down of all the markets Raycom Media and Gray Television own on this map here:
(The cities with stars are the markets that will see one or more stations sold.)
Stakeholders still have 60 days to let their voices be heard on the settlement before the court decides whether to accept it.
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