Gray Media Now Owns KATC, KADN, and KLAF in Lafayette. Here’s What Changes.
LAFAYETTE, La. — The deal that has been working through regulators for nearly a year is now official. Gray Media closed its station swap with The E.W. Scripps Company on Thursday, taking control of KATC, Lafayette’s ABC affiliate, and putting three of the market’s four major television stations under one corporate owner.
According to Gray Media, the transaction involved no cash. Both companies traded stations of roughly equal value across five markets. Gray acquired KATC in Lafayette and WSYM (Fox) in Lansing, Michigan. In return, Scripps picked up three stations in Colorado and Idaho, markets where it already held existing properties.
What the Deal Means for Lafayette Viewers
The ownership shift is already complete, even if the on-screen product looks the same for now.
Gray entered the Lafayette market when it closed its purchase of KADN and KLAF-LD on May 1, 2026, a separate $171 million transaction with Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group. With Thursday’s KATC transfer final, the Atlanta-based company now controls the ABC, Fox, and NBC affiliates in the Lafayette market. KLFY (CBS), owned by Nexstar Media Group, remains the only full-power station in the market outside of Gray’s portfolio.
Channel numbers, network affiliations, and on-air programming are not changing immediately. What happens at the newsroom level, including staffing, combined operations, and programming hours, will play out in the months ahead.
Gray Now Owns Stations in Every Louisiana Market
Lafayette had been the one gap in Gray’s statewide footprint. That changed with the KATC swap announcement in July 2025.
Gray already operated television stations across the rest of Louisiana before Thursday’s closing: WAFB (CBS) in Baton Rouge, KPLC (NBC) in Lake Charles, KNOE in Monroe, KSLA in Shreveport, WVUE (Fox) in New Orleans, and KALB in Alexandria. KATC’s transfer fills the last open slot on the map, giving Gray a presence in all seven of Louisiana’s major television markets.
Gray is the nation’s largest owner of local television stations by market count. As of Thursday, it serves 117 full-power television markets reaching approximately 37% of U.S. television households.
How This Deal Got Done
The origins of the Scripps-Gray swap stretch back to July 2025, when both companies announced the agreement. The FCC approved the transaction on April 28, 2026, after the agency dismissed objections from the American Television Alliance and the NCTA.
Regulatory approval was not guaranteed when the deal was first announced. For decades, federal rules barred a single company from owning two of the four highest-rated stations in the same market. Lafayette had already been through that fight in 2016, when Nexstar was forced to sell KADN and KLAF after acquiring KLFY because the market was considered too small for a duopoly.
The landscape changed. The Eighth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals vacated the longstanding “Top Four” rule in 2025. Under FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, the agency has been granting waivers in comparable markets with little resistance. Both the KATC swap and the KADN/KLAF acquisition cleared that process.
Gray President and Co-CEO Pat LaPlatney said at the time of the original announcement that the company anticipates expanding news staff and increasing the hours of live local newscasts at both Lafayette stations following the acquisitions.
What’s Next for Acadiana Television
The KATC newsroom and the KADN/News 15 operation now share a common owner. What that means practically, whether it leads to a combined newsroom, shared resources, or expanded coverage, has not been announced publicly. LaPlatney committed to expanding news output in Lafayette, but the company has not released specifics.
Gray’s three-station bloc, anchored by KATC’s ABC affiliation and KADN’s Fox brand, now faces KLFY, Nexstar’s CBS affiliate and the market’s longtime ratings leader.
KPEL reported in May 2026 that Nexstar itself is in the middle of a proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna, a deal that, if completed, would reshape the competitive picture further.
Lafayette television viewers will notice nothing different when they switch on the news tonight.
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Gallery Credit: Joe Cunningham
