And now PMCM is cashing out in a big way: late last week, it filed a $62.5 million deal to sell WJLP to “TV-49, Inc.,” a subsidiary of Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, which also runs the MeTV network. For Weigel, the addition of WJLP (and its channel-sharing LPTV partner, WNWT-LD channel 37) is the latest step in an ongoing acquisition project that’s recently included purchases in Houston, Seattle and several other large markets.
In the New York market, WJLP becomes part of a new duopoly, since Weigel also just bought WZME (Channel 43), the Bridgeport, Connecticut-licensed signal that rimshots New York over the air but enjoys robust cable and satellite coverage of most of the market. That $35 million deal with seller NRJ just resulted in WZME flipping to Weigel’s new MeTV Plus network, which now makes even more sense in the context of a duopoly with MeTV’s main network on WJLP.
