Rockefeller Group to Sell TV, Radio Units

Rockefeller Group said Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its television and radio stations to an investment group formed by managers of the subsidiary and Wesray Capital Corp. for more than $625 million.

Outlet Communications, as the Rockefeller family-owned group’s broadcast subsidiary is known, includes five network-affiliated television stations and two independent UHF stations as well as four radio stations, including KIQQ-FM in Los Angeles.

After completing the purchase, xProvidence, R.I.-based Outlet plans to sell one of the stations--KSAT-TV in San Antonio, an ABC affiliate--to H-C Communications of Houston for $153 million, Outlet spokesman Frederick Griffiths announced separately in Providence.

Griffiths said the managers who would become part owners of Outlet include Bruce Sundlun, chairman and chief executive, and David Henderson, president and chief operating officer.

Wesray, an investment company whose chairman is former Treasury Secretary William E. Simon, declined comment on the deal.

In addition to KSAT-TV, the Outlet television stations are WATL-TV, an independent UHF station in Atlanta; WCMH-TV, an NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio; WXIN-TV, a UHF independent in Indianapolis; WCPX-TV, a CBS affiliate in Orlando, Fla.; WJAR-TV, an NBC affiliate in Providence, and KOVR-TV in Stockton-Sacramento, an ABC affiliate.

In addition to KIQQ-FM, the radio stations owned by Outlet are WTOP-AM in Washington, WIOQ-FM in Philadelphia and WTKS-FM in Bethesda, Md.