Newport Television
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Media |
| Fate | Acquired by Nexstar, Sinclair, and Cox |
| Predecessor | Television arm of Clear Channel Communications |
| Successor |
Nexstar Broadcasting Group Sinclair Broadcast Group Cox Media Group |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale |
| Defunct | June 1, 2013 |
| Headquarters | Kansas City, Missouri |
Key people |
Sandy DiPasquale (president, CEO) |
| Services | Television |
| Owner | Providence Equity Partners |
Newport Television, LLC was a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications.[1]
History
In September 2007, Newport agreed to sell KFTY and KVOS-TV to LK Station Group LLC for $26.6 million.[2] The deal was set be completed in March 2008 but eventually collapsed due to LK's lender refusing to provide the funding;[3] KFTY (now KEMO-TV) and KVOS have since been sold to other companies. As of October 10, 2007, Newport has agreed to sell KION-TV, KMUV-LP, K44DN, KKFX-CA, KCOY-TV to Cowles Publishing Company for $41 million.[4] Newport's purchase of the Clear Channel stations and those being resold were granted conditional Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval, subject to divestitures of media properties owned by other affiliates of Providence Equity Partners in several other markets.[5] The entire deal closed on March 14, 2008 after several stations, in addition to those being divested by Newport, were placed into trust companies.[6]
In March 2012, Providence Equity Partners began to explore strategic alternatives for Newport Television, which may lead to a sale of the group.[7] In July 2012, it was officially confirmed that Nexstar Broadcasting Group would acquire twelve of Newport's stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group would acquire six, and Cox Media Group would acquire four.[8][9] As part of the same deal, Newport's CMS operations, branded as Inergize Digital, would go to Nexstar. This deal was followed eight days later by the announcement that WXXA-TV in Albany, New York would be sold to Shield Media, LLC, who would then enter into joint sales and shared services agreements with Young Broadcasting's WTEN.[10]
Four other Newport stations were not part of either of the July 2012 deals, with the company continuing to pursue buyers for those stations;[11] Nexstar would announce its acquisition of two of those stations, KGET-TV in Bakersfield, California and KGPE in Fresno, on November 5.[12] On November 26, Newport announced that KMTR is being sold to Fisher Communications. Because Fisher already owns KVAL-TV, Fisher will assign the rights to acquire the FCC license to Roberts Media, LLC (a company wholly unrelated to the bankrupt Roberts Broadcasting), which Fisher will then enter into a Joint Sales and Shared Services Agreement with KVAL.[13]
On October 23, the FCC granted approval to the sale of the Jacksonville and Tulsa stations to Cox, plus the Albany station to Shield Media. This was followed the next day by the FCC approval of the July sale of the stations to Nexstar except for the two in Little Rock being sold to Mission Broadcasting, which were later approved on December 10. On November 19, the FCC granted approvals of the remaining stations from the July deal to Sinclair.
Nineteen of the stations involved in the July sale was consummated on December 3, 2012. On the same day, Sinclair announced that they would acquire non-license assets of WHAM-TV, which the license will be transferred to Deerfield Media.[14] On January 23, 2013, the FCC granted approvals of the Newport California stations to Nexstar; and on January 30, the FCC granted approval to the WHAM transaction to Sinclair. On April 24, 2013, the FCC granted its approval on Newport's final station, KMTR to Roberts Media.[15] This was after an announcement that Fisher is being sold by Sinclair for $373 million, two weeks prior.[16] On June 1, the KMTR sale was consummated, completing the disestablishment of the company.[17]
Former Newport-owned Stations
| City of license / Market | Station | Channel TV (RF) |
Years Owned | Current Ownership Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile, Alabama/Pensacola, Florida | WPMI-TV | 15 (15) | 2008-2012 | NBC affiliate owned by Deerfield Media (Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) |
| WJTC | 44 (45) | 2008-2012 | Independent station owned by Deerfield Media (Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) | |
| Fairbanks, Alaska | KTVF | 11 (26) | 2008-2012 | NBC affiliate owned by Chena Broadcasting, LLC (Operated through a LMA by Tanara Valley Broadcasting Company) |
| Little Rock, Arkansas | KLRT-TV | 16 (30) | 2008-2013 | Fox affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting (Operated through a LMA by Nexstar Broadcasting Group) |
| KASN | 38 (39) | 2008-2013 | The CW affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting (Operated through a LMA by Nexstar Broadcasting Group) | |
| Bakersfield, California | KGET-TV 1 | 17 (25) | 2008-2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| KKEY-LP | 11 (17.3) | 2008-2013 | Telemundo affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group | |
| Fresno, California | KGPE 1 | 47 (34) | 2008-2013 | CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| Monterey/Salinas, California | KION-TV | 46 (32) | 2008 | CBS affiliate owned by News-Press & Gazette Company |
| KCBA | 35 (13) | 2008 | Fox affiliate owned by Seal Rock Broadcasters, LLC (Operated through a LMA by Entravision Communications) | |
| KMUV-LP | 23 | 2008 | Telemundo affiliate, owned by News-Press & Gazette Company | |
| Santa Maria, California | KCOY-TV | 12 (19) | 2008 | CBS affiliate owned by VistaWest Media, LLC (Operated through a LMA by News-Press & Gazette Company) |
| KKFX-CA | 24 | 2008 | Fox affiliate owned by News-Press & Gazette Company | |
| Santa Rosa-San Francisco, California | KFTY | 50 (32) | 2008-2011 | Azteca América affiliate, KEMO-TV, owned by Una Vez Más Holdings, LLC |
| Jacksonville, Florida | WAWS | 30 (32) | 2008-2012 | Fox affiliate, WFOX-TV, owned by Cox Media Group |
| WTEV-TV 1 | 47 (19) | 2008-2012 | CBS affiliate, WJAX-TV, owned by Bayshore Television, LLC (Operated through a LMA by Cox Media Group) | |
| Wichita, Kansas | KSAS-TV | 24 (26) | 2008-2012 | Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| KMTW | 36 (35) | 2 | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Mercury Broadcasting Company (operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) | |
| Hoisington, Kansas | KOCW (satellite of KSAS) |
14 (14) | 2008-2012 | Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Salina, Kansas | KAAS (satellite of KSAS) |
18 (17) | 2008-2012 | Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York | WXXA-TV | 23 (7) | 2008-2012 | Fox affiliate owned by Shield Media, LLC (operated through a LMA by Media General) |
| Binghamton, New York | WIVT | 34 (34) | 2008-2012 | ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| WBGH-CA | 20 (34.2) | 2008-2012 | NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group | |
| Elmira, New York | WETM-TV | 18 (18) | 2008-2012 | NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| Rochester, New York | WHAM-TV | 13 (13) | 2008-2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Deerfield Media (Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) |
| Syracuse, New York | WSYR-TV | 9 (17) | 2008-2012 | ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| Watertown, New York | WWTI | 50 (21) | 2008-2012 | ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| Cincinnati, Ohio | WKRC-TV | 12 (12) | 2008-2012 | CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Tulsa, Oklahoma | KOKI-TV | 23 (22) | 2008-2012 | Fox affiliate owned by Cox Media Group |
| KMYT-TV | 41 (42) | 2008-2012 | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Cox Media Group | |
| Eugene, Oregon | KMTR | 16 (17) | 2008-2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Roberts Media, LLC (Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) |
| Coos Bay, Oregon | KMCB (satellite of KMTR) |
23 (22) | 2008-2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Roberts Media, LLC (Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) |
| Roseburg, Oregon | KTCW (satellite of KMTR) |
46 (45) | 2008-2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Roberts Media, LLC (Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) |
| Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | WHP-TV | 21 (21) | 2008-2012 | CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| WLYH-TV | 15 (23) | 3 | Grit TV affiliate, WXBU, owned by Howard Stirk Holdings | |
| Jackson, Tennessee | WJKT | 16 (39) | 2008-2012 | Fox affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| Memphis, Tennessee | WPTY-TV | 24 (25) | 2008-2012 | ABC affiliate, WATN-TV, owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| WLMT | 30 (31) | 2008-2012 | The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group | |
| San Antonio, Texas | WOAI-TV 1 | 4 (48) | 2008-2012 | NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Salt Lake City, Utah | KTVX | 4 (40) | 2008-2012 | ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| KUCW 1 | 30 (48) | 2008-2012 | The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group | |
| Bellingham, Washington-Vancouver, British Columbia (Bellingham is nominally in the Seattle market) |
KVOS-TV | 12 (35) | 2008-2011 | MeTV affiliate owned by OTA Broadcasting, LLC |
Notes:
- 1 The licenses and other FCC assets of these stations were owned by High Plains Broadcasting, Inc. because of an ownership conflict (Providence Equity Partners also holds a 19 percent ownership stake in the Spanish-language network Univision). However, Newport Television operated these stations under a shared services agreement (SSA).
- 2 Owned by Mercury Broadcasting Company, Newport operated KMTW under a local marketing agreement with KSAS.
- 3 Owned by Nexstar Broadcasting, Newport operated WLYH under a local marketing agreement with WHP.
References
- ↑ "Clear Channel Agrees to Sell Television Station Group to Providence Equity Partners". Retrieved 2007-10-09.
- ↑ "Deals". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
- ↑ Bid to Seal Records in $2.5 Billion Lawsuit Rejected
- ↑ "Deals". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on November 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
- ↑ "FCC OK's Clear Channel TV Sale". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
- ↑ "Clear Channel Completes Sale to Providence Equity Partners". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ Richwine, Lisa; Lauria, Peter (March 23, 2012). "Exclusive: Providence Equity shopping Newport Television". Reuters. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
- ↑ "Sinclair Broadcast to buy 7 TV outlets for $452.5M". MarketWatch. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
- ↑ "Newport Sells 22 Stations to Nexstar, Sinclair, Cox for $1 Bil". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
- ↑ Shield Buying Newport's WXXA For $19.4M, TVNewsCheck, July 27, 2012.
- ↑ "Newport Sells 22 Stations for $1 Billion," from TVNewsCheck, 7/19/2012
- ↑ "Nexstar Adding Stations In CA, VT". TVNewsCheck. November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
- ↑ Fisher Communications (FSCI) Unit to Acquire KMTR(TV) in $8.5M Deal Street Insider, November 26, 2012
- ↑ Daneman, Matthiew (December 3, 2012). "WHAM-TV partially sold to Sinclair Broadcast". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
- ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1548631.pdf
- ↑ Malone, Michael (April 11, 2013). "Sinclair to Acquire Fisher Stations for $373 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
- ↑ CDBS Print. Licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved on 2013-08-16.
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