RPT-Oak Hill bid for Fox U.S. TV assets - sources

(Repeating to additional subscribers)

By Megan Davies and Kenneth Li

NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Oak Hill bid for the nine television stations media conglomerate News Corp NWSa.N put up for sale in June, two sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Final bids were due on Friday for the nine Fox-affiliated television stations which include TV stations in Cleveland, Ohio and Denver, Colorado. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said in June it retained Allen & Co as adviser to sell the stations.

The Oak Hill bid was around $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion, the sources estimated.

The assets had drawn interest from rival private equity firms earlier in the process, the first source said.

The second source said that Oak Hill was the only party which submitted a bid.

Oak Hill and News Corp declined to comment.

Doing deals has been difficult in the past few months amid turmoil in the debt markets, sparked by the subprime loan crisis. Some broadcast deals have been put on hold or face being renegotiated or pulled.

Clear Channel Communications Inc (CCU.N) said on Friday that Providence Equity Partners was considering withdrawing from a $1.2 billion deal to buy the radio operator's television assets. The private equity firm is considering its options because of underperformance at the stations, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Thursday.

In addition, television broadcaster Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc (NXST.O) in August suspended talks with prospective buyers while LIN TV Corp (TVL.N), which said in May it was exploring a possible sale, has not announced any deal.

However, Lincoln National Corp (LNC.N) said on Monday it plans to sell its three television stations and its sports syndication business to Raycom Media for $583 million and use the cash to pare down its debt and buy back shares. (Additional reporting by Michael Flaherty in New York; editing by Richard Chang)