News Corp. to sell 8 Fox TV stations to private equity firm

NEW YORK -- — News Corp. said it would sell eight of its owned-and-operated Fox network affiliated television stations to private equity investment firm Oak Hill Capital Partners for about $1.1 billion in cash.

Oak Hill is the controlling shareholder of Local TV, which was run by Randy Michaels until his agreement last week to become a top executive at Tribune Co. Michaels now runs Tribune’s broadcast and interactive group as part of the Sam Zell-led $8.2-billion buyout.

Michaels last week set up a Tribune subsidiary to manage back office operations and advertising sales of the 23 Tribune TV stations and the nine local stations he previously operated. The Fox stations are expected to be managed by the new unit as well.

News Corp. said on its website Saturday that Fox Television Stations would still have 27 owned-and-operated stations. It is selling WJW in Cleveland; KDVR in Denver; KTVI in St. Louis; WDAF in Kansas City, Mo.; WITI in Milwaukee; KSTU in Salt Lake City; WBRC in Birmingham, Ala.; and WGHP in Greensboro, N.C.