Bankruptcy judge to rule on sale of Pappas TV stations

By Virgil Larson
Omaha World-Herald


Omaha World-Herald (NE) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 18--Investors holding the debt of Omaha television stations KPTM and KXVO as well as KMEG and KPTH in the Sioux City, Iowa, market and others around the country have tentatively bought the stations.

New World TV Group LLC will be the new owner of the stations if a federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware approves the sale. New World TV Group is a creation of Fortress Credit Corp., which bid $260 million in an auction Friday.

The 11 stations auctioned are part of Pappas Broadcast Group, a collection of companies that operated 30 television stations. Thirteen of the stations in May filed for bankruptcy protection, a move taken to buy time and avoid selling at distress prices.

Eleven of the stations, including those in Omaha and Sioux City, were named as debtors in the bankruptcy action. Two others were debt guarantors. Pappas stations in Lincoln and Kearney, Neb., and Des Moines and Ames, Iowa, were not in the debtor group that filed for bankruptcy protection.

A bankruptcy judge in Wilmington, Del, is to review the sale at a hearing Monday.

Howard Schrier of Omaha, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Pappas Broadcast Group, said Wednesday that viewers will probably notice no difference if the sale goes through.

--Contact the writer: 444-1081, virgil.larson@owh.com