Trades S.F. TV to Viacom for stations in D.C. and Houston

Fox and Viacom traded stations last week, as expected, to create three new large-market duopolies.

The station swaps--pending FCC approval--would give Viacom a duopoly in No. 5 market San Francisco and Fox duopolies in No. 8 market Washington and No. 11 Houston. Viacom will exchange WDCA(TV) Washington and KTXH(TV) Houston, where Fox owns WTTG(TV) and KRIV(TV), respectively, for KBHK-TV San Francisco, where CBS already owns KPIX-TV. All three stations in play are UPN affiliates.

Group officials said the station values evened out and there was no cash in the deal. More exchanges between the companies are likely in pursuit of duopolies.

If the deal is approved, Viacom's station group would have seven duopolies, all in major markets: San Francisco,...