• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, December 23, 2013

Meredith Corp. will buy two local TV stations in St. Louis, MO and Phoenix, AZ from Gannett Co. and Sander Media, and has struck a deal with another media company to provide operating services to a third station in Phoenix, in a deal worth $407.5 million, the companies announced Monday.
 
In the first part of the deal, Meredith will acquire KMOV-TV St. Louis and KTVK-TV from Gannett.  Gannett’s corporate affiliate Sander Media is acquiring the stations from Belo Corp. as part of a larger deal giving Gannett control of 20 Belo TV broadcast properties for $1.5 billion plus the assumption of $715 million in debt.
 
Meanwhile, in a related deal, Gannett will sell another Phoenix TV station, KSAW-TV, to Meredith, which will then convey the station to a third-party owner, SagamoreHill, in order to satisfy regulatory obligations under the Federal Communications Commission’s rules on local ownership of media. The station will be operated by Meredith Corp.
 
Also on Monday, Gannett announced that it had completed its acquisition of Belo Corp. at a price of $13.75 per share. Gannett is retaining a broadcast presence in the St. Louis and Phoenix markets with KSDK-TV and KPNX-TV, respectively.
 
These transactions are part of a wave of deals as TV stations trade hands around the country.

In July, Tribune Co. said it would buy 19 television stations from Local TV Holdings LLC for $2.73 billion. Then in November, Gray Television, based in Atlanta, Ga., announced a deal to acquire 16 stations from Hoak Media and Parker Broadcasting in a deal worth $335 million .