Scripps’ Purchase of ION Means Future Network Moves

The E.W. Scripps Company announced Thursday that it has reached a $2.65 billion deal to buy the ION television network and 39 of its owned-and-operated stations, adding them to Scripps’ current 60 TV stations and five multicast networks.

ION is currrently owned by an entity controlled by Black Diamond Capital Management. Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway will make a $600 million investment in Scripps to finance the transaction.

ION owns stations in 62 markets but Scripps says it will divest 23 of them to comply with federal ownership caps. It did not specify which stations will be divested or who will buy them, but said it has a buyer lined up who will continue to operate the stations as ION affiliates.

The purchase could create a duopoly in the Milwaukee market, where Scripps owns NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV/4.1 and ION owns WPXE/55.1. Scripps’ Upper Midwest holdings also include NBC affiliate WGBA (Green Bay), MyNetworkTV station WACY (Appleton-Green Bay), and CBS affiliate KMTV (Omaha).

Besides WPXE, ION’s owned-and-operated stations in the region include KPXR (Cedar Rapids), KFPX (Newton-Des Moines), KPXM (St. Cloud-Minneapolis), and WTPX (Antigo-Wausau).

Scripps says it plans to continue ION’s programming of recent off-network crime dramas on the O&O’s main channels. The main network also has 124 affiliates in markets where ION doesn’t own stations.

However, other current subchannels on the O&O’s will be replaced with Scripps’ five other networks as affiliation contracts with other stations expire. Scripps’ networks, which are operated by its Katz Broadcasting division, include Bounce, Court TV, Court TV Mystery, Laff, and Grit.

Currently, ION O&O’s carry qubo on DT2, ION Plus on DT3, infomercials on DT4, QVC on DT5, and HSN on DT6.

ION is the successor to PAX, which launched in 1998, and the “PX” in the callsigns refers to the original network name.