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Less than a month after completing its sale of KOKH-25, Sinclair Broadcast Group has bought it back -- and so must consider selling it again.
Tuesday's merger between Sinclair, owner of KOCB-34, and Sullivan Broadcast Holdings, the company that on Feb. 1 took over KOKH, will create yet another shake-up in Oklahoma City's turbulent TV market.
Sinclair will buy Boston-based Sullivan for as much as $1 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt, giving it television stations in the East and South. But the Federal Communications Commission forbids a single company to own more than one station in a particular market.
Sinclair faced the exact same situation last year when it acquired
Heritage Media, then the owner of KOKH. Sinclair resolved the dilemma by arranging to sell the station to Sullivan on the same day that it closed on its acquisition of Heritage.
"Sinclair owned us until the ink was dry," explained Steve Herman, station manager of KOKH, which broadcasts the FOX network.
Perhaps this time Sinclair will own Channel 25 for the few seconds it takes ink to dry once again. Or it could keep KOKH and sell KOCB- 34 instead.
"It's up in the air again. There's no basis to predict the future," said Herman. "It seems like anything could happen. I'm sure in the coming days we'll get more details...