A Utah company said last week it's leased a low-power television station in Reno and plans to lease a second after it's acquired from its current owner.
WENR Corp. of Salt Lake City said it leased Channel 43 KELM-LP from Ngensolutions LLC of Reno and plans to develop investment-related programming about small-cap companies to air on the station.
The company said it has preliminary commitments from three cable operators to carry the Channel 43 programming in their basic line-ups. WENR didn't identify the cable operators.
Ngensolutions LLC also is negotiating to buy Channel 25 KRRI-LP in Reno, and WENR expects to lease that station as well.
While programming for Channel 25 remains under discussion, it might include Spanish-language programming, said Tariq Ahman, a managing member of Ngensolutions.
Dan Green, president of WENR Corp., is also a manager of Ngensolutions LLC.
The stations, which have been off the air since March, were owned by Equity Media Holdings, an Arkansas company that sold off its stations after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late last year.
Ahman said Channel 43 probably will return to the air within 30 days.
The acquisition of Channel 25 still requires regulatory approval and the transaction isn't expected to close for about 60 days.
Ahman said the company's executives are working to line up production facilities for the investment programming. Green said the production facilities ultimately may be housed in Las Vegas.
Terms of the leases or the sales transaction weren't disclosed.
