Cox Considers Selling Detroit, Oakland Television Stations

Cox Enterprises Inc. said Friday that it has been encouraged by a series of “unsolicited inquiries” to consider selling its two Fox-affiliated television stations in Oakland and Detroit.

But the privately held, family-owned company said it is in no hurry to unload the stations and would withdraw them from the market should offers not meet expectations.

“We’re proud of both stations and have no overwhelming desire to sell them,” Chief Executive James C. Kennedy said in a statement issued from Cox’s Atlanta headquarters. The statement added that KTVU in Oakland and WKBD in Detroit, both of which are ranked fourth in their markets, are “extremely successful.”

The announcement raised some eyebrows in the Bay Area, where KTVU is a participant in an investor group seeking to buy the San Francisco Giants baseball team. National League team owners voted this week to disapprove the team’s relocation to St. Petersburg, Fla., and the Giants’ current owner, Bob Lurie, is considering the Bay Area bid.

A Cox spokeswoman said a sale of KTVU, which carries Giants games in the Bay Area, would not affect the station’s participation in the Giants’ bid.

“The cash that has been pledged to the deal would stay with the station,” said Ellen East, the spokeswoman.

Cox said it has hired Morgan Stanley & Co., a New York investment bank, to determine the stations’ market value and to handle any potential transaction.

In addition to the two affiliates of Fox Broadcasting Co., Cox owns five network-affiliated TV stations, in Pittsburgh; Atlanta; Orlando, Fla.; Dayton, Ohio, and Charlotte, N.C. It also owns 24 cable television systems, 13 radio stations and 17 daily newspapers. The station has 225 employees.

Cox had revenue last year of $2.3 billion.

Fox, the maverick broadcasting company based in Los Angeles, owns and operates seven stations nationwide, with an additional 139 affiliates.