Singing duop in Western Louisiana. (Station Break).(Paxson Communications to sell KPXJ TV to KTBS Inc. )

Broadcasting & Cable, June, 2003 by Miller, Mark K.

SHREVEPORT, LA. -- The country's No.81 TV market is getting its first duopoly. Paxson Communications is selling KPXJ(TV) Minden, La. (in the Shreveport DMA), to KTBS Inc. for $10 million. KTBS-TV is the city's ABC affiliate and has been running KPXJ under a joint sales agreement for the past five years.

Paxson Chairman Bud Paxson said the deal is further evidence of the continued interest in his stations, "heightened by the FCC's new rules."

Edwin Wray, who runs KTBS-TV, says he plans to introduce local news on KPXJ, which currently has none. The ability of new station combos to add more news in a market has been one of the arguments made by those advocating loosening the duopoly restrictions.

The deal is expected to close this fall,...

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