As part of its effort to get the most from its NFL TV rights contract, Fox had notified Tribune that it was terminating its affiliation with Tribune's KCPQ Seattle last month. It was mostly seen as a move to either get higher fees from the station, or to force Tribune to sell the station to Fox.
Today, Tribune Media Company and 21st Century Fox have reached an agreement on a new multi-year extension of the FOX affiliation in Seattle with Tribune owned station, KCPQ-TV. Under the terms of the agreement, Tribune will continue its FOX affiliation with KCPQ-TV in Seattle through July 2018, which is concurrent with the timing of seven other Tribune Broadcasting FOX affiliation agreements. As part of the agreement, FOX has withdrawn its previously delivered termination notice and has agreed that the affiliation will no longer be subject to early termination prior to July 2018.
"We are pleased to have secured a multi-year agreement with FOX to extend our affiliation with KCPQ-TV in Seattle through July 2018," said Peter Liguori, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tribune Media. "Tribune is not only FOX's largest local affiliate group, but also has a far-reaching business partnership with FOX on nearly 20 syndicated programs as well as Salem, a WGN America original series. Today's agreement illustrates the value both parties place on resolving issues on mutually satisfactory and beneficial terms."
"KCPQ is an outstanding station driven by the high-quality local news, entertainment and sports programming offered by the station and its continued affiliation with FOX," said Larry Wert, president of Tribune Broadcasting. "This extension serves the community of Seattle, and reinforces the vibrancy of our station group."
KCPQ provides 10 hours of local news throughout all of western Washington each weekday in addition to the FOX prime time entertainment and weekend sports programming through its affiliation. KCPQ is the official television partner of the Seattle Seahawks and has exclusive rights to their pre-season games. As a FOX affiliate, the television station carries the network's prime time and sports programming including the regular season Seattle Seahawks and other NFL games, Major League Baseball's World Series, Pac-12 Football and NASCAR.
As part of the extended affiliation agreement Tribune has agreed, as of January 1, 2015, to pay additional programming fees to FOX for the prime time and sports content provided by the network. Including this additional programming fee, Tribune expects that, for the term of the agreement, KCPQ will deliver profitability in excess of its previously disclosed 2013 annual EBITDA of $13 million.
Tribune Pays Up - Gets to Keep Fox Affiliation in Seattle
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