News Corporation has sold eight Fox channels in small and medium markets.

They have been bought by a venture capital group which will run them under a new deal with Tribune Company.

News Corporation announced it was selling the channels to Oak Hill Capital Partners for $1.1bn earlier this week. They include WJW Cleveland, KDVR Denver, KTVI St Louis and WDAF Kansas City.

It came a day after Tribune revealed an agreement with Oak Hill's Local TV company for a joint station management project. This will now include the new purchases.

Randy Michaels, one of Local TV's bosses, said the new venture would provide services to both it and Tribune's channels but be an independent subsidiary of Tribune. He added: "We are going to find new ways to operate smarter, cheaper and more efficiently."

A Tribune statement said the two companies would remain managerially independent but that operations "common across corporate headquarters will be combined in a transparent manner to both companies".