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NY Times Co. to sell 9 TV Stations, Focus on Print, Digital

The New York Times Company announced yesterday that it plans to sell its nine television stations in order to focus on its print and digital properties. It has hired Goldman Sachs & Company to advise it on the sale.

The stations accounted for just 4 percent of the company’s total revenue last year, according to the New York Times. A media analyst for the Benchmark Company, a financial research company, says that the sale makes strategic sense. The sale will give the company the capital to reinvest in its print and digital operations.

A media analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company points out that the sales is a sign that broadcast owners are worried about the long-term viability of local broadcast stations.

In a similar move, Time Inc. announced that it will sell 18 of its magazines. It, too, plans the sale in order to focus on its largest and most profitable brands.