Townsquare Media has announced a deal to buy Cherry Creek Media, which owns 43 stations in nine markets for $18.75 million. Townsquare currently own 321 stations in 67 markets.
The nine markets are Butte, MT; Great Falls, MT; Missoula, MT; Montrose, CO; Sierra Vista, AZ; St. George-Cedar City, UT; Tri-Cities, WA; Wenatchee, WA; and Williston, ND. As part of the deal, Townsquare will divest six stations in in Missoula, MT, to Anderson Broadcasting, Legacy Broadcasting (a non-profit organization), and Missoula Community Radio (also a non-profit organization), and place two radio stations in Tri-Cities, WA in a divestiture trust.
“We are very excited to announce the acquisition of Cherry Creek’s market leading local media brands. The acquisition includes many local heritage brands with strong competitive positions, meaningful audience share, and very talented local teams,” commented Townsquare CEO Bill Wilson. “This represents an excellent opportunity to deploy our Digital First Local Media strategy across a broader footprint, bringing our national scale, strong digital platform, and resources to the local communities and local businesses in these markets, building upon the strong relationships these local teams have already built with their communities. We look forward to accelerating the digital growth in these markets as we implement our flywheel of powerful and effective marketing and advertising (digital and radio) solutions and technology platforms, in combination with our highly relevant, localized content on-air and online. We believe this acquisition furthers our goal of being the #1 Digital First Local Media Company in markets outside of the Top 50 in the United States.”
“This acquisition represents a compelling use of capital that aligns with our priorities of investing in our local business through both organic investments and prudent acquisitions that support our revenue and profit growth,” added Townsquare CFO Stuart Rosenstein. “This acquisition is net leverage neutral and due to the strong cash generation of our business and the acquired assets, will not impact our ability to reach our goal of 4x net leverage by year end.”
