By Steve Goodspeed
Duluth’s KQDS-TV, FOX 21 welcomed new ownership on Monday.
The completion of the sale to the Coastal Television Broadcasting Group LLC, culminated a several-year process during which the station’s long-time owners had been looking for the right buyer.
Coastal Television Broadcasting Group LLC is a Georgia-based company owned and operated by Coastal’s Founder and CEO Bill Fielder.
Coastal owns or provides advertising sales and other services to 19 television stations with 28 Big Four Network and CW channels across Mississippi, Alaska, Tennessee, New York, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, Wyoming, and now–North Dakota and Minnesota.
KQDS-TV had long been owned by Red River Broadcast Co., LLC and KQDS-TV Corp. They are owned by Curtis Squire Inc., a Minnesota-based family holding company that held the stations for several decades.
At one time, Red River also owned other television and radio stations in Minnesota and the Dakotas.
The sale to Coastal is Red River’s and KQDS-TV’s last remaining broadcast assets.
The purchase by Coastal also includes another Minnesota television station as well as several in North Dakota:
KBRR-TV, Channel 10, Thief River Falls, Minnesota
KVRR-TV, Channel 15, Fargo, North Dakota
KJRR-TV, Channel 7, Jamestown, North Dakota
KNRR-TV, Channel 12, Pembina, North Dakota
All stations are FOX Affiliates.