WPGH rides Fox success

Station seeks equal billing with network affiliates

Officials at WPGH-TV, buoyed by the success of wise-cracking cartoon hero Bart Simpson and other hot Fox Broadcasting properties, say they are pulling within sight of their network-affiliate competitors in the race for advertising dollars. The "big three" television stations, meanwhile, concede Channel 53 has advanced, but still consider the North Hills-based station an also-ran.

Investors don't see it that way at all. In 1973, WPGH was purchased for $1 million; three years ago Renaissance Communications paid $32 million for the station, and earlier this year Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into an agreement to purchase WPGH for $55 million.

The deal, however, requires Federal Communications Commission approval, and at least one group is trying to block the sale. A Pittsburgh attorney asked the FCC not to approve the proposed sales of WPGH and WPTT-TV.

Under the dual sale, Renaissance will sell Channel 53 to Sinclair, current owners of WPTT in Pittsburgh. WPTT, meanwhile, will be sold to the station's general manager, Edwin L. Edwards.

The WPTT sale will give Sinclair debentures convertible to WPTT equity, raising questions of dual ownership.

Petitions filed with the FCC by Mark I. Baseman, an attorney with Downtown law firm Cohen and Grigsby, say the transactions raise cross-interest policy questions under FCC rules that disallow dual ownership in a single market.

Still, the proposed $55 million deal reveals the success WPGH has had in exploiting its Fox affiliation.

And the widespread...