Equity Media Holdings Selling Five Stations

Plagued by money problems that it announced in an annual report earlier this week, Equity Media Holdings announced that its EBC Southwest Florida subsidiary is selling five low-power and class-A stations to Luken Communications.

WUVF, WLZE, WBSP, WEVU and WTLE are being sold for $8 million. All are based around Fort Myers, Fla., and air either Univision or TeleFutura programming.

Luken Communications is owned by Henry G. Luken III, who is president, chairman and CEO of Equity Media, and Thomas Arnost, CEO of Equity’s station group. Luken Communications will do business separately from Equity Media.

Equity Media owns Retro Television Network.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.