Who will Buy those Other Gray/Raycom Stations?

FTVLive told you that Gray Television was going to gobble up the Raycom stations in a deal worth about $3.6 billion dollars. 

As we told you, there is some markets with overlap and Gray has already decided which stations in those markets will be divested.

Market (Rank)  Retained Station   Divested Station
Knoxville (61)    WLVT (CBS)          WTVZ (Fox)
Toledo (78)       WTVG (ABC)         WTOL (CBS)
Waco (86)         KWTX (CBS)          KXXV (ABC)
Tallahassee        WCTV (CBS)          WTXL (ABC)
Augusta (112)    WRDW (CBS)         WFXG (Fox)
Odessa (144)     KOSA (CBS)          KWES (NBC)
Panama City     WJHG (ABC)         WPGX (Fox)
Albany (154)     WANB (ABC)        WSWG (CBS)
Dothan (173)    WTVY (CBS)          WDFX (Fox)

We can tell you that FTVLive has actually started the process into looking to buy one of the stations that is being divested (No, really we have). 

But, what about the others? Let's look at some possible buyers. 

Newly formed Standard Media, which is looking to acquire stations from the still pending Sinclair-Tribune merger, could be a candidate to add stations to its portfolio.

Other possible buyers.  Lockwood Broadcasting and Heartland Media could make a play for some mid-sized to smaller market stations.  Morgan Murphy Media could be in play as well.  As for any bigger companies looking to expand... Scripps, which is selling off radio portfolio, could have the potential to grow its TV portfolio.  Jury would be out on other such names, like Graham, Meredith, Hearst, TEGNA, Cox, etc.  Swing states (like Florida and Ohio), especially in presidential election cycles, and some mid-term election cycles, could prove to be quite attractive to potential buyers.

Future of Raycom Sports franchise may also be interested, and whether it's rechristened as Gray Sports, or if Gray may have other plans?

Stay tuned.... 

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