Nexstar Buys NBC 24/51

JDG Television of Muskogee, Okla., sold its Fayetteville television station,, NBC 24/51, KPOM/KFAA, to Nexstar Broadcasting Group of Irving, Texas, on Oct. 16. r

The transaction is subject to FCC approval and is expected to close in early 2004. Nexstar began operating the stations under a “time brokerage agreement” on Oct. 16 while awaiting regulatory approval.r

After pending acquisitions are completed, Nexstar will own 42 television stations serving 26 television markets representing 7.2 percent of all U.S. television households.r

David Needham, who had been general manager of NBC 24/51 under JDG Television, will leave the station in March.r

Based in Fayetteville, NBC 24/51 also has a newsroom in Fort Smith.r

Nexstar had revenue of $123.1 million last year, a 25 percent increase over $99.1 million in the previous year.r

Since relaunching its newscast in 2000 after eight years off the air, NBC 24/51’s newscast has trailed KHBS/KHOG, Channels 40/29, and KFSM, Channel 5, in the area Nielsen ratings.r

John Griffin, president of JDG Television, told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal in 2000 that he had invested $5 million to relaunch NBC 24/51’s newscast and open a newsroom on the downtown Fayetteville square. JDG television is a division of Griffin Holdings Co. of Muskogee.r

NBC 24/51 was considered by many people to be the only locally owned television station in the market. Muskogee is 61 miles west of Fayetteville.r