Pappas Telecasting Cos. has entered into an agreement to purchase KDBC-TV, the El Paso, Texas CBS affiliate, for $20 million from Imes Communications. Under the terms of the agreement, Pappas will begin operating KDBC-TV immediately as part of a time brokerage agreement that continues until the closing of the purchase transaction.
Howard H. Shrier, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Pappas Telecasting’s TV station group, will act as interim general manager. Pappas will continue to operate KDBC-TV as a CBS affiliate.
KDBC-TV was El Paso’s first television station, having signed on in 1952. El Paso is the 101st-ranked Nielsen DMA with 276,330 television households and a population age 2 and above of 834,000.
According to Pappas, El Paso’s Department of Economic Development forecasts that personal income in the market will reach $17 billion in 2007. Gross retail sales for El Paso in 2002 grew to $6.8 billion, a 7.2% increase over 2001, easily surpassing the growth rate for Texas as a whole, Pappas said.
