MPS Media Buying WFLI from Meredith

MPS Media agreed to purchase The CW affiliate WFLI Chattanooga, Tenn., from Meredith for a reported $6.8 million. The deal is expected to close in about two months.

WFLI brought in $1.8 million last year, according to BIA Financial, good for fifth in the No. 86 Nielsen media Research DMA.

Besides CW programming like Gossip Girl, the station syndicates Two and a Half Men and airs Meredith women’s show Better at noon.

MPS also owns CW outlets such as WTLF Tallahassee, Fla., and WSWB Scranton, Pa. Eugene Brown runs the company.

“The decision to sell WFLI-TV supports our strategy to focus on larger markets, as well as markets where we have or can create duopolies,” Meredith Broadcasting president Paul Karpowicz said.

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.