Two Omaha TV stations among group for sale

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10333273

Published Monday May 12, 2008
Two Omaha TV stations among group for sale
BY VIRGIL LARSON
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Omaha television stations KPTM and KXVO as well as stations in the Sioux City, Iowa, market are for sale as the Pappas Broadcast Group struggles with financial difficulties.

The stations are among 13 Pappas stations that along with Pappas Telecasting Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection, a move to buy time in which to avoid having to sell at "distress" prices.

The Omaha and Sioux City stations are among 11 that are named as debtors in the bankruptcy case. The other two, neither of them in the Midlands, are listed as guarantors of the debt.

The other 17 stations in the Pappas Broadcast Group, which include those in Lincoln and Kearney, Neb., and in the Des Moines and Ames, Iowa, markets are not part of the bankruptcy filing.

But they could go on the block, too. All 30 stations in the Pappas Broadcast Group are potentially for sale, said Howard Shrier, senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Pappas station group. He oversees all 30 stations.

"We have sought to finance the company for 18 months," Shrier said.

Unable to do that, he said, the other course was to restructure and potentially sell stations. But all of that ran into tightening of credit markets.

FULL story at link.