Day after FCC ruling, KSFY parent company buys KDLT

Sept. 25, 2019

The parent company of KSFY-TV has completed its purchase of another TV station in the Sioux Falls market.

The FCC ruled Tuesday that Gray Television could buy KDLT-TV from Red River Broadcasting Co. Gray announced the $32.5 million deal in May 2018 and with approval from the FCC and Justice Department was able to complete the deal today, according to a KSFY report.

KSFY is an ABC affiliate, and KDLT is an NBC affiliate.

According to the order, “The record demonstrates that permitting Gray to acquire KDLT-TV is likely to produce definite, verifiable and transaction-specific public interest benefits.”

Gray has committed to add at least 28 hours per week of local news programming across the two stations, more local news programming than either station currently airs in an average week, according to the FCC. The company also plans to open a news bureau in Pierre, the capital, to provide better coverage of state government and install a state-of-the-art weather radar that will enable it to provide more accurate information about severe weather in the Sioux Falls market, the order states.

Gray also will add a multicast channel to one of its satellite stations, KPRY-TV, to expand over-the-air distribution of NBC programming.

The FCC noted that the No. 1 station in the Sioux Falls market, KELO-TV, “has consistently earned a majority of advertising revenue, making it harder for the other stations in the market to effectively compete against it. The applicants note that KDLT-TV is already struggling to maintain a profitable local news operation and that, without relief, ‘it is only a matter of time before KDLT-TV is forced to eliminate its local news.’ ”

According to a statement from Gray, there will be no changes at either station for awhile.

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Day after FCC ruling, KSFY parent company buys KDLT

Gray Television, the parent company of KSFY-TV, has finalized its purchase of another TV station in the Sioux Falls market after favorable rulings from the FCC and Justice Department.

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