Nexstar Buys Florida Station

Nexstar has announced the acquisition of WSNN from Citadel Communications.

The company says that this purchase will pave the way for WFLA and WTTA to extend their influential reach in the Tampa DMA to include Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte counties along the West Coast of central Florida.

This expansion marks a significant step for the two stations in their bid to dominate the local news landscape in the region.

Suncoast News Network is a low-power independent television station that currently serves over 400,000 homes in the area.

Nexstar says that by joining forces with WFLA and WTTA, the trio of television stations will offer an unparalleled coverage of breaking news, weather updates, sports events, and community activities in Tampa, the 13th-largest television market in the United States, as well as the surrounding regions.

Mark Higgins, Vice President and General Manager of WFLA-TV/WTTA-TV, highlighted the importance of this acquisition, stating, "WSNN-LD and its Suncoast News Network provide comprehensive local news, weather, and sports coverage across both linear and digital platforms, and offer a variety of advertising opportunities for businesses and marketers throughout Sarasota and the three-county region. WSNN-LD is the perfect complement to WFLA-TV and WTTA-TV, and positions us extremely well in what will again be a battleground state during the 2024 presidential election cycle."

Nexstar did not announce how many jobs will be eliminated after they take over SNN, but I’m guessing as they fold the operations together, layoffs are sure to follow.

Stay tuned…