Argyle finds Providence taker.(Argyle Television Inc., buyer for WNAC-TV Providence, RI)(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, August, 1997 by Rathbun, Elizabeth A.

Meanwhile, Argyle Television Inc. has found a buyer for WNAC-TV Providence, R.I. The buyer will pay $47.5 million, according to documents filed recently with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But who is the buyer? The obvious choice is Clear Channel Communications, which operates the station under an LMA. However, Clear Channel already owns a station in the market: WPRI-TV. "We'll disclose [the buyer] when we get definite agreements," an Argyle executive says. A Clear Channel official declined comment.

Argyle is divesting WNAC-TV, a Fox affiliate, to make way for WCVB-TV Boston, an ABC affiliate owned by Argyle's merger partner, Hearst Corp. The documents say Argyle also is in talks to sell WDTN(TV) Dayton, Ohio, which overlaps with Hearst's WLWT(TV) Cincinnati.