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By Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Apollo Global Management LLC is preparing to sign a deal worth about $ 3 billion to acquire Cox TV channels, the largest of a series of transactions that the Private equity firm plans to become a US broadcasting force the issue.
Cox Media Group and Apollo are also discussing several joint venture agreements for the Cox radio station in Atlanta, headquartered in Cox, which also has radio stations, the sources said.
There may be other cities where companies decide to set up joint ventures, the sources added.
An agreement between Apollo and Cox could be announced later this week, sources said, asking not to be identified because the case was confidential. As in any negotiation, the discussions could always break at the last minute, warned the people.
Apollo is also a bidder for a portfolio of stations that Nexstar Media Group Inc. plans to sell as a result of its $ 4.1 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co, they added. This process should be completed later this year. If Apollo won in this auction, the badets would be combined with Cox TV channels, people said.
Apollo also signed an agreement to acquire the badets of Northwest Broadcasting, which owns more than a dozen television channels in predominantly rural Pacific Northwest markets, and combine them with Cox badets, said sources.
Apollo and Cox refused to comment. Northwest Broadcasting and Nexstar could not be contacted for comment.
Cox, a Atlanta-based family-owned Atlanta company, said she was exploring options for her portfolio of 14 stations. The stations were in markets such as Orlando, Florida, Atlanta, Seattle and Jacksonville, Florida.
The audiovisual media sector has witnessed a series of merger talks as the US Federal Communications Commission may relax restrictions on the number of stations that broadcasters can operate. The FCC has not yet voted on the issue.
Private equity firms find television stations attractive through taxes generated by cable companies. Apollo would seek to use some of Northwest Broadcasting's contracts, which are higher than Cox's fees, to increase cable operators' fees, some sources said.
Apollo would also be able to reduce the costs of family-controlled Cox television channels for many years.
Last year, Apollo tried unsuccessfully to acquire Nexstar and Tribune Media.
(Report by Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis in New York, additional report by Carl O Donnell, edited by Peter Cooney)
Copyright 2019 Thomson Reuters.
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