The sale of KHON-TV and 12 mainland sister-stations to publicly traded LIN Television Corp. by New Vision Television is part of a deal that includes a $330.4 million purchase price and assumption of about $12 million in debt.

Broadcast industry trade publication TV NewsCheck reported that LIN’s $330.4 million purchase price is what California-based New Vision paid for just four stations and related facilities in July 2007.

New Vision bought the stations from California-based Montecito Broadcast Group LLC in 2007 but filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2009.

"I see this as a good thing for everyone at KHON2," said Joe McNamara, vice president and general manager.

The station sale is the eighth since top-rated news anchor Joe Moore joined KHON in 1978, Moore said. During one of those ownership changes, Moore was openly critical of the buyer.

"Montecito Broadcasting … walked in the door and axed 35 people from our staff without any evaluations or interviews with our people," Moore recalled.

"From what little I know of LIN, this looks to be a positive change for KHON. I haven’t been told much, but I do know we won’t be forced to reduce staff or partner with another station’s news department."

Moore’s contract is in effect through 2017, he said.

The decision to sell the stations "was not an easy one," said Jason Elkin, New Vision CEO, in a statement. However, "we negotiated a fair price and so decided that now is the right time for me and others at New Vision to begin to look at new opportunities."

Rhode Island-based LIN owns or operates 32 TV stations in 15 markets on the mainland and runs 15 onpolitix.com websites in several of those markets.

"We have been evaluating the M&A (merger and acquisition) landscape for quite some time and selectively pursued New Vision Television as it adds geographical diversity, particularly in the South and Western U.S.," said Vincent Sadusky, LIN president and CEO, in a statement. "This is a terrific opportunity to strengthen our mid-size market station portfolio in an accretive manner and will provide new markets to expand our digital businesses."

When the transaction closes, LIN’s U.S. TV household reach will increase to 10.6 percent from the current 7.3 percent, the company estimates.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.