An international company has reached a deal to purchase the majority interest of Cox Media Group, impacting 14 television stations, including Pittsburgh’s WPXI-TV.
According to a release on Cox Enterprise’s website, Apollo Global Management, LLC, an alternative investment manager, will soon manage the stations along with Cox’s radio, newspaper and TV properties in Ohio.
Cox Media Group will maintain a minority interest.
Initial plans show Apollo and Cox Media Group forming a new company to manage the entities, which will be headquartered in Atlanta, Ga.
Further details were not immediately provided.
“These stations have decades of experience breaking barriers and delivering the news and information their communities need daily,” President and CEO of Cox Enterprises Alex Taylor said in the statement. “We wanted to find a company that is committed to investing in broadcast television now and in the future, and we found that in Apollo.”
Cox Enterprises started looking for strategic alternatives last July, including partnering or merging its stations into a larger company, WPXI-TV reported Friday.
According to the release, Apollo “intends to maintain the successful management and operating structure Cox Media Group’s TV business has created.”
