Parent company of KAKE acquires KWCH; plans to sell KAKE

Two Wichita televisions stations will change owners in a dramatic shift in the local television market announced Monday.

Gray Television, owner of KAKE-TV Channel 10 and two satellite stations in Kansas, said in a news release it has bought Schurz Communications, which owns KWCH-TV, Channel 12, and three satellite stations.

Gray said it will keep KWCH, the Wichita market’s number one station, and will have to sell KAKE for the deal to get the approval of federal regulators. Gray will sell KAKE and its assets to another broadcaster before the deal closes.

Gray Television is acquiring all of Schurz Communications’ television and radio stations for $442.5 million. The company said it would talk about the purchase during a conference call with analysts on Tuesday morning.

The publicly traded Gray Television, based in Atlanta, owns and operates television stations and digital assets in 49 markets in 28 states. It had sales of $586 million in its most recent four quarters.

Local station officials had little to say Monday about the sale.

“We’re up for sale, I don’t know much more than that,” said Brad Moses, general manager of KAKE.

KWCH General Manager Joan Barrett referred questions to Schurz President Todd Schurz, who declined comment.

Gray said it made the deal to increase its scale, improve the quality of its portfolio by adding the top grossing stations in five additional markets and increase its exposure to politically competitive markets.

“Today is a momentous day in Gray’s 118-year history,” Hilton Howell Jr., Gray’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Through the Schurz transaction, we will significantly expand the quality of our portfolio of leading television stations.”

Schurz, based in Mishawaka, Ind., owns television stations, radio stations, daily and weekly newspapers, cable companies and a telephone directory in medium and small markets throughout the U.S. None of the non-broadcast properties are being sold.

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Parent company of KAKE acquires KWCH; plans to sell KAKE."