Update: Forum Paying $1.4 Million for Independent Sioux Falls Station

Fargo-based Forum Communications will pay $1.4 million for a full-power independent TV station in Sioux Falls, according to an asset purchase agreement filed with the FCC.

The company first announced in a news report Wednesday, Nov. 23, that it has reached a deal to buy KWSD/36 and KCWS-LD/27 from JF Broadcasting with the intention of launching news programming. The sale was filed for approval with the FCC on Monday, Nov. 28.

The deal includes the two stations’ licenses, as well as real property not detailed in the publicly-available portion of the document and all shares in a company that owns half of the KWSD tower site near Rowena. JF will retain a separate low-power TV license, KAUN-LD/25, which will continue to share an antenna with KCWS-LD atop Sanford Hospital.

KWSD, which carries programming from YTA, does not currently have a local news presence but simulcasts some newscasts from co-owned KNBN/21 (Rapid City). KNBN is not included in the sale.

“Our designs will bring an alternative source and presentation of news largely not seen today,” Forum Vice President of Broadcast Joshua Rohrer was quoted as saying in the company’s announcement.

The company’s holdings within the Sioux Falls market include the Mitchell Daily Republic and the Worthington Daily Globe. It also has a commercial printing operation in Sioux Falls.

As a news outlet, KWSD would compete with Nexstar’s KELO-TV/11, Gray’s KSFY/13 and KDLT/46, and Gannett’s Argus Leader.

Forum currently owns ABC affiliates in the Fargo and Bismarck markets and, since January, has had a pending request for a rare FCC waiver to acquire the FOX affiliate in Fargo, along with the FOX affiliate in Duluth. There’s no indication when the FCC will issue a decision on the waiver request.

Forum previously owned KSFY from 1973 to 1985.

KWSD signed on as a PAX affiliate in 2000, switched to the WB in 2003, then carried the CW starting in 2006, and then MeTV from 2012 to 2015.

As a full-power license, KWSD can elect must-carry status on cable and satellite providers across the Sioux Falls TV market, which covers most of eastern South Dakota as well as five counties in Minnesota, two in Iowa, and one in Nebraska. Midcontinent Communications carries KWSD on channel 600, while DISH Network lists it on channel 37 and it is not listed on DirecTV’s lineup.

This article was originally posted on Nov. 23 and was updated on Nov. 29.

Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Media Group. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.