Business News

Media General Completes Sale of Two Television Stations to Hoak Media Corporation

Wednesday 16. July 2008 - Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) and Hoak Media Corporation announced today the completion of Hoak's purchase of Media General's ABC television station WMBB in Panama City, Fla., and its dual NBC/CBS station KALB/NALB in Alexandria, La. Terms were not disclosed.

Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer of Media General, said, “We are pleased to complete the sale of the second and third of five stations we are divesting. We will use the proceeds immediately for debt reduction. The many fine contributions made by the employees of WMBB and KALB/NALB are much appreciated, and we thank them and wish them well in the future.”

On June 25, Media General announced an agreement to sell WNEG in Toccoa, Ga., to the University of Georgia Foundation; that transaction is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter. The sale of WCWJ in Jacksonville, Fla., is progressing. Media General completed the sale of WTVQ in Lexington, Ky., to Morris Network, Inc., on May 13.

When the sales of all five stations are completed, Media General expects to realize total proceeds of $100 million to $105 million, which will be used to reduce debt by $60 million to $65 million after considering estimated taxes to be paid. Once all the divestitures are completed, Media General will provide aggregated financial details on the group of stations sold.

WMBB, which has approximately 70 employees, was acquired by Media General in 2000 as part of the acquisition of a group of television stations from the former Spartan Communications. KALB was acquired in 1997 from Park Communications and has approximately 55 employees. KALB launched its digital channel NALB with its CBS affiliation in January 2007. NALB has 4 employees.