Gannett Co. (GCI) and Belo Corp. (BLC) said they reached a preliminary agreement with the Justice Department related to a St. Louis television station that is expected to allow the pending $1.5 billion acquisition of the television broadcaster to proceed.

The Justice Department on Monday said it would require Gannett and a third-party Sander Media LLC to divest themselves of interests in St. Louis television station KMOV-TV owing to antitrust concerns before the Belo acquisition could move ahead.

Under the planned deal, Sander Media had been set to acquire six Belo television stations that Gannett can't hold under Federal Communications Commission rules, including KMOV-TV.

The Justice Department on Monday had said that its antitrust division filed a civil suit to block the Belo acquisition and related agreements between Gannett and Sander. The suit alleged that the planned transaction would hurt competition in the broadcast TV spot advertising market in the St. Louis area. The complaint alleged that though KMOV-TV and Gannett's KSDK TV would have separate sales forces under the deal, various agreements between Gannett and Sander "would align the incentives of the two stations."

The companies announced in June that Gannett would buy Belo, with its 20 stations, for $13.75 a share.

In a statement Monday, Gannett said it expects very minimal impacts on its outlook for cost savings related to the Belo deal.

Gannett shares were trading at $26.71 recently, up 2%. Belo shares were at $13.73, up three cents.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

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