Nexstar Media Group said it agreed to acquire the assets of KUSI San Diego from McKinnon Broadcasting Co. and Channel 51 of San Diego for $35 million.
KUSI is an independent station now, but Nexstar plans to make it an affiliate of The CW when that affiliation becomes available. Tegna’s KFMB, a CBS affiliate, currently carries The CW programming on a digital subchannel.
Nexstar already owns KWSB, the Fox affiliate in San Diego, the 30th-largest U.S. TV market.
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“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.
“Their mission of serving the community by delivering the most local news in the market is consistent with Nexstar’s commitment to providing consumers expansive local content on linear and digital platforms,” Carter said. “In addition, Nexstar’s platform reach, expanding digital media revenue, commitment to unbiased news and reporting across the enterprise, the return of political advertising revenue in 2024 and our focus on our balance sheet and shareholder returns will enable us to extend our record of enhancing shareholder value on a near- and long-term basis.”
Nexstar said it expected the transaction to close later this year and that the deal will be accretive once the station becomes a The CW affiliate.
“I have known Perry Sook, Nexstar’s chairman and chief executive officer, for more than 30 years,” said Mike McKinnon, owner & CEO of KUSI-TV. “He is a great broadcaster who has built a tremendous organization. We have a great team of news people at KUSI-TV, and joining these two companies will create one of the most dynamic news organizations in all of Southern California.”
