...+ U.S.-based TV broadcaster The E.W. Scripps Co. announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire a portfolio of TV stations from Nexstar Media Group for $580 million. This follows the company's pending acquisition of TV stations from Cordillera Communications for $521 million. + We expect both acquisitions will be funded with incremental debt, causing S&P-adjusted pro forma average trailing-eight-quarter leverage to increase to between 6.5x-7x, well above our low-4x threshold for the '##-' rating. + We lowered our issuer credit rating on E.W. Scripps to 'B+' from '##-' due to the elevated leverage. + At the same time, we lowered our issue-level rating on the company's existing senior secured revolving credit facility and term loan to '##' from '##+' and lowered our issue-level rating on the company's senior unsecured notes to 'B+' from '##-'. + All of our ratings remain on CreditWatch with negative implications. In resolving the CreditWatch placement, we will evaluate the quality...
