Post-Newsweek Group, Cable One Not Part of Washington Post Sale

The Washington Post has been sold for $250 million to an Internet mogul, but the TV stations and cable operations are staying put.

The Post-Newsweek TV stations and Cable One cable service/ISP subsidiary are not part of Jeffrey Bezos' agreement to acquire the group's corporate sibling, the daily paper The Washington Post, and other owned newspapers.

The pending sale covers the flagship Post along with the Express, The Gazette Newspapers, Southern Maryland Newspapers, Fairfax County Times, El Tiempo Latino and Greater Washington Publishing.

Emily Barr heads up the Post-Newsweek stations, which are in Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando, Detroit, Houston and San Antonio.

Washington Post Co. revenue for the second quarter was just over $1 billion, up 3% from the second quarter of 2012. Post-Newsweek had earnings of $99.3 million, an increase of 4% over the same quarter a year ago. Cable television division revenue increased 5% to $204.6 million in the quarter. 

By contrast, the newspaper division has "suffered a 44% decline in operating revenue over the past six years," according to the Post.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.