Nexstar to Buy KUSI

KUSI (San Diego), one of the last family own stations, is moving into the Nexstar fold.

KUSI, which the conservative McKinnon family owns, will be sold to Nexstar.

Nexstar already owns KSWB, the Fox station in San Diego, and the purchase of KUSI could be bad news for folks in the KUSI newsroom.

Our bet is that Nexstar will combine KWSB and the KUSI newsrooms, and more than likely, there will be layoffs.

I think you can look at Denver and KDVR/KWGN as the example of what you will see happen in SoCal.

“KUSI-TV’s established local news operations serving viewers and advertisers across the San Diego community is a perfect fit with our station group and existing San Diego operations at KSWB-TV,” said Tom Carter, Nexstar’s president and chief operating officer.

Nexstar got KUSI for a bargain basement price of just $35 million bucks. I have no clue why the McKinnon’s sold the station at such a low price.