Walt Disney Co. has held exploratory talks about selling its ABC network and TV stations to local broadcaster Nexstar Media Group Inc., according to people familiar with the discussions.
The talks are preliminary and haven’t involved a specific valuation, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public. Nexstar would only be interested at the right price.
A spokesperson for Nexstar declined to comment. Disney declined to comment.
Read More: Five Things You Need to Know About Delta’s Big SkyMiles Changes
Tom Carter, Nexstar’s former president and now an adviser to its CEO and board, told investors at a Bank of America Securities conference Wednesday that the company is interested in acquiring assets from legacy media owners like Disney that are looking to restructure. Nexstar could acquire the ABC outlets with possibly only a few divestitures to stay within limits on broadcast station ownership, he said.
The adviser added that there are some complications to a sale. ESPN, Disney’s sports network, shares many of its telecasts with ABC.
“If you were to buy the ABC complex, how would that work going forward?” he said. “There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered there.”
He also said Nexstar, the largest US owner of TV stations, needs more guidance from Disney on what it wants to do.
“They’ve got to be a little bit clearer in their thinking,” Carter said. “We can take direction, but we’re not necessarily out there leaning into any of this stuff without a clear path.”
Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said in July that he is considering divesting traditional TV networks like ABC. Broadcast and cable channels have been losing viewers to streaming services such as Disney+ and Hulu.
Nexstar, based in Irving, Texas, has 200 owned or partner TV stations in 116 markets. It recently acquired majority ownership of the CW network from Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and Paramount Global last year. It also owns NewsNation, a cable news channel.
(Updates with Disney declining to comment in third paragraph.)
