On April 23, 2004, Malara Broadcast Group entered into agreements to purchase KDLH and WPTA. This marks Malara's first action as a company. These purchases were completed in early March of 2005.
On March 8, 2005, Malara Broadcast Group entered into a credit agreement with Granite Broadcasting Corporation. This agreement gave Malara Broadcasting $48.5 million and a revolving credit line of $5 million, which it used to purchase KDLH (from former owner New Vision Television) and WPTA, from Granite. In addition to this agreement, Malara also entered into a second agreement with Granite, under which Granite would operate, promote, and sell advertising for the two Malara stations. This is known as a local marketing agreement.
Malara Broadcasting files its financial results to the SEC jointly with Granite, leading many to believe that it is simply a shell corporation for Granite. If this is true, Granite and Malara would be in violation of the FCC's rules on duopolies. Neither Fort Wayne and Duluth have enough full-power stations to legally permit a duopoly. Fort Wayne has six stations while Duluth has five, and FCC regulations require a market to have eight unique station owners once a duopoly is formed--effectively restricting duopolies to markets with at least nine full-power stations.