Greenspun media investments expand with TV station deal

Kevin Rademacher

Thursday, April 15, 2004 | 10:41 a.m.

Las Vegas TV Partners, a media company that includes Greenspun Broadcasting LLC and New York-based Catalyst Investors LP, announced an agreement to purchase Las Vegas UPN television affiliate KTUD channel 25.

The seller is Venture Technologies Group of Los Angeles. The station also airs on Cox cable channel 14.

Greenspun Broadcasting, its parent company The Greenspun Corporation and the Las Vegas Sun are owned by the Greenspun family.

Phillip C. Peckman, chief operating officer of The Greenspun Corporation, on Wednesday said financial terms of the deal could not be released until after the deal receives approval of the Federal Communication Commission. That approval is expected in the next 90-180 days, he said.

Federal rules limit cross-ownership opportunities for newspaper companies seeking to buy television stations in the same market. KTUD, however, is considered a low-power station and falls outside of those ownership guidelines, Peckman said.

The Las Vegas Sun is a partner in the operation of cable channel Las Vegas ONE with Cox Communications and KLAS TV. Peckman said he did not expect that partnership to be affected by the new purchase.

The purchase, Peckman said, is a natural extension of the Greenspun companies' existing media ventures and a return to its roots. The Greenspun family owned KLAS until it was sold to Howard Hughes in 1968.

"We used to have (a television station) years ago," Peckman said. "We are in the media business already. We thought this was a good add-on for us."

Bob Fisher, chief executive of the Nevada Broadcaster Association, said affiliates with networks such as UPN and WB are faring well as viewers continue to search for more options.

"The statistics are that because of the age we live in, there is a lot of channel surfing that takes place," he said.

There are no current plans to change the station's network affiliation or make programming changes, Peckman said.

"We want UPN," he said. "That's what drew us to that station. We are all 'Star Trek' fans."

The presence of a local ownership partner also caught Fisher's attention.

"It certainly can't hurt," he said. "That's a big argument that the Nevada Broadcasters have about satellite TV and radio, there's no local component. How can it not be better to have localism?"

The KTUD purchase is expected to be the first in a series of new media ventures for Greenspun Broadcasting, Peckman said.

"We are looking for more to buy," he said, adding that those opportunities could include properties outside the Las Vegas market in the television, radio and telephony industries.

The Greenspun Corporation will hold a 60 percent interest in the venture with Catalyst Investors, but the station will be run as a joint venture, Peckman said.

Venture Technologies and KTUD executives could not be reached for comment.