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Apollo Exploring Potential $4 Billion Sale of Cox Media Group

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(Bloomberg) -- Apollo Global Management Inc. is looking to exit the business of broadcast television and radio.

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The New York-based alternative asset manager has hired Moelis & Co. to help it explore a potential sale of Cox Media Group, including its portfolio of local broadcast television and radio stations from Atlanta to Seattle, according to people familiar with the matter.

A sale could value Cox Media Group at about $4 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Apollo’s preference is to sell the holdings to a buyer that can take on most of the company rather than carving up the channels among a large number of parties, some of the people said. There’s no certainty the deliberations will result in a transaction, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

A spokesperson for Apollo, which had $70 billion of private equity assets under management as of Dec. 31, declined to comment. A representative for Cox Media Group didn’t respond to a request for comment, while a Moelis spokesman didn’t provide a comment.

Nexstar Media Group Inc. and Gray Media Inc. are among the potential buyers looking at some or all of the TV stations, some of the people said. Representatives for Nexstar and Gray declined to comment.

The potential sale comes as industry watchers predict deregulation will spur consolidation in the broadcast TV industry, which is facing challenges including declining viewership and falling advertising revenue as consumers spend more time on digital platforms.

“The appointment of Brendan Carr as FCC chairman could spur a new wave of TV-broadcast M&A given his stance on deregulation and plan to relax ownership limits,” Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst Geetha Ranganathan wrote in a March 11 report.

Apollo made a big push into local TV and radio several years ago, striking deals in 2019 to buy dozens of stations owned by Cox Enterprises and Northwest Broadcasting Inc. At the time, it formed a new media company — Cox Media Group — to hold the businesses, and took a majority stake in that. Cox Enterprises retained a minority holding.

Cox Media’s television business includes affiliates of CBS, Fox and others across nine markets, according to its website. The company reaches 60 million people in the US through its TV and radio stations, according to its website. Cox Media Group also has an advertising business.