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Newport Television, LLC
Company typePrivate
IndustryMedia
PredecessorTelevision arm of Clear Channel Communications
Founded2007; 17 years ago (2007)
FounderProvidence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale
DefunctJune 1, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-06-01)
FateAcquired by Nexstar, Sinclair, and Cox
Successor
  • Nexstar Broadcasting Group
  • Sinclair Broadcast Group
  • Cox Media Group
Headquarters
Kansas City, Missouri
Key people
ServicesTelevision
OwnerProvidence 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

[edit]

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 to 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 had 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 would be sold to Fisher Communications. Because Fisher already owned KVAL-TV, Fisher assigned the rights to acquire the FCC license to Roberts Media, LLC (a company wholly unrelated to the bankrupt Roberts Broadcasting), which Fisher then entered 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 approval of the remaining stations from the July deal to Sinclair.

Nineteen of the stations involved in the July deal were consummated on December 3, 2012. On the same day, Sinclair announced that they would acquire non-license assets of WHAM-TV, while the license was 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 was being sold to Sinclair for $373 million, two weeks prior.[16] On June 1, the KMTR sale was consummated, completing the disestablishment of the company.[17]

Former stations

[edit]

Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license.

City of license / Market Station Channel Years owned Current status
Mobile, AL–Pensacola, FL WPMI-TV 15 2008–2012 NBC affiliate owned by Deerfield Media[a]
WJTC 44 2008–2012 Independent station owned by Deerfield Media[a]
Fairbanks, AK KTVF 11 2008–2012 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Little Rock, AR KLRT-TV 16 2008–2013 Fox affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting[b]
KASN 38 2008–2013 The CW affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting[b]
Bakersfield, CA KGET-TV 17 2008–2013[c] NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
KKEY-LP 11 2008–2013 Telemundo affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Fresno, CA KGPE 47 2008–2013[c] CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Monterey–Salinas, CA KION-TV 46 2008 CBS/Fox affiliate owned by News-Press & Gazette Company
KCBA 35 2008 CW+ affiliate owned by Seal Rock Broadcasters, LLC[d]
KMUV-LP 23 2008 Telemundo affiliate owned by News-Press & Gazette Company
Santa Maria, CA KCOY-TV 12 2008 Telemundo affiliate owned by VistaWest Media, LLC[e]
KKFX-CA 24 2008 Fox affiliate owned by News-Press & Gazette Company
Santa Rosa–San Francisco, CA KFTY 50 2008–2011 Estrella TV affiliate KEMO-TV, owned by Innovate Corp.
Jacksonville, FL WAWS 30 2008–2012 Fox affiliate WFOX-TV, owned by Cox Media Group
WTEV-TV 47 2008–2012[c] CBS affiliate WJAX-TV, owned by Hoffman Communications, Inc.[f]
Wichita, KS KSAS-TV 24 2008–2012 Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
KMTW 36 [g] Dabl affiliate owned by Mercury Broadcasting Company[a]
Hoisington, KS KOCW[A] 14 2008–2012 Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Salina, KS KAAS[A] 18 2008–2012 Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Albany–Schenectady–Troy, NY WXXA-TV 23 2008–2012 Fox affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting[b]
Binghamton, NY WIVT 34 2008–2012 ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
WBGH-CA 20 2008–2012 NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Elmira, NY WETM-TV 18 2008–2012 NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Rochester, NY WHAM-TV 13 2008–2013 ABC affiliate owned by Deerfield Media[a]
Syracuse, NY WSYR-TV 9 2008–2012 ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Watertown, NY WWTI 50 2008–2012 ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Cincinnati, OH WKRC-TV 12 2008–2012 CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Tulsa, OK KOKI-TV 23 2008–2012 Fox affiliate owned by Imagicomm Communications
KMYT-TV 41 2008–2012 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Imagicomm Communications
Eugene, OR KMTR 16 2008–2013 NBC affiliate owned by Roberts Media, LLC[a]
Coos Bay, OR KMCB[B] 23 2008–2013 NBC affiliate owned by Roberts Media, LLC[a]
Roseburg, OR KTCW[B] 46 2008–2013 NBC affiliate owned by Roberts Media, LLC[a]
Harrisburg, PA WHP-TV 21 2008–2012 CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
WLYH-TV 15 [h] Comet TV affiliate WXBU, owned by Howard Stirk Holdings
Jackson, TN WJKT 16 2008–2012 Fox affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Memphis, TN WPTY-TV 24 2008–2012 ABC affiliate WATN-TV, owned by Tegna Inc.
WLMT 30 2008–2012 The CW affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
San Antonio, TX WOAI-TV 4 2008–2012[c] NBC/CW affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Salt Lake City, UT KTVX 4 2008–2012 ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
KUCW 30 2008–2012[c] The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Bellingham, WA–Vancouver, BC[i] KVOS-TV 12 2008–2012 Univision affiliate owned by Weigel Broadcasting
  1. ^ a b Satellite of KSAS-TV.
  2. ^ a b Satellite of KMTR.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Operated through an SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group.
  2. ^ a b c Operated through an SSA by Nexstar Media Group.
  3. ^ a b c d e Owned by High Plains Broadcasting, Inc. because Providence Equity Partners also held a 19 percent ownership interest in Univision, but operated by Newport Television via SSA.
  4. ^ Operated through an SSA by Entravision Communications.
  5. ^ Operated through an SSA by News-Press & Gazette Company.
  6. ^ Operated through an SSA by Cox Media Group.
  7. ^ Owned by Mercury Broadcasting Company and operated by Newport under a local marketing agreement with KSAS.
  8. ^ Owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Newport operated WLYH under a local marketing agreement with WHP.
  9. ^ Bellingham is nominally in the Seattle market.

Variety Television Network

[edit]

Variety Television Network (also referred to as VTV or the Variety Channel) was a digital subchannel operated by Newport Television on various US DTV stations including 6 owned by Clear Channel;[18] The network went off the air in early January 2009.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Clear Channel Agrees to Sell Television Station Group to Providence Equity Partners". Archived from the original on April 25, 2007. Retrieved October 9, 2007.
  2. ^ "Deals". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
  3. ^ Bid to Seal Records in $2.5 Billion Lawsuit Rejected
  4. ^ "Deals". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on November 13, 2007. Retrieved October 9, 2007.
  5. ^ "FCC OK's Clear Channel TV Sale". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved November 29, 2007.
  6. ^ "Clear Channel Completes Sale to Providence Equity Partners". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved March 14, 2008.
  7. ^ Richwine, Lisa; Lauria, Peter (March 23, 2012). "Exclusive: Providence Equity shopping Newport Television". Reuters. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  8. ^ "Sinclair Broadcast to buy 7 TV outlets for $452.5M". MarketWatch. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  9. ^ "Newport Sells 22 Stations to Nexstar, Sinclair, Cox for $1 Bil". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  10. ^ Shield Buying Newport's WXXA For $19.4M, TVNewsCheck, July 27, 2012.
  11. ^ "Newport Sells 22 Stations for $1 Billion," from TVNewsCheck, July 19, 2012
  12. ^ "Nexstar Adding Stations In CA, VT". TVNewsCheck. November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  13. ^ Fisher Communications (FSCI) Unit to Acquire KMTR(TV) in $8.5M Deal Street Insider, November 26, 2012
  14. ^ Daneman, Matthiew (December 3, 2012). "WHAM-TV partially sold to Sinclair Broadcast". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  15. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 2, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ Malone, Michael (April 11, 2013). "Sinclair to Acquire Fisher Stations for $373 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
  17. ^ CDBS Print. Licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved on August 16, 2013.
  18. ^ Szalai, George. "Clear Channel sells TV stations". The Hollywood Reporter. Vol. 399.
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