Adell Broadcasting in Clinton Township has sold its Mount Clemens-based WALD-TV station to Mission Broadcasting Inc. of Wichita Falls, Texas. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The acquisition of WADL is Mission’s second entry into the state of Michigan and comes amid Adell’s ongoing U.S. District Court case alleging years of tax nonpayment.
Mission Broadcasting is a privately held company that currently owns 29 television stations in 26 U.S. markets. Mission’s portfolio includes ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, The CW, and MyNetworkTV affiliates in Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont in addition to Michigan.
“The purchase of WADL represents a rare opportunity to acquire a full-power station in a top-15 market,” says Dennis Thatcher, president of Mission Broadcasting. “We are very excited about playing a role in the continued renaissance of this great American city.”
WALD-TV is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated station has been serving Detroit, the nation’s 14th largest market, since its launch in May 1989. It currently reaches nearly 2 million television households.
The transaction, subject to regulatory and other customary approvals, is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
The U.S. government filed suit in April alleging that Kevin Adell, the leader of 910AM Superstation and the Word Network, the world’s largest African American religious network, failed to pay more than $15 million in taxes on his father’s estate. Franklin Adell, who owned the cable satellite company that broadcasts the Word Network, died in 2006 leaving an estate valued at almost $33 million.
Adell, who also owns the Adell Center in Novi, is quoted in reports saying the government is in error and he will be vindicated.
