Barrington Broadcasting
Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois was an American corporation focused on broadcast television, primarily in middle and small size media markets. Barrington owned or operated via duopoly twenty-four television stations, with the potential to reach 3.4 percent of households in the U.S.[1] It was owned by Pilot Group, a private equity firm.
 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mass media |
| Genre | Television broadcasting |
| Founded | May 2003 |
| Founders | Keith Bland Chris Cornelius Mary Flodin K. James Yager |
| Defunct | November 25, 2013 |
| Fate | Acquired by Sinclair |
| Successor | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Headquarters | , USA |
Number of locations | Fifteen ranked television markets (U.S.) |
Key people | K. James Yager, CEO Warren Spector, CFO |
| Services | Broadcasting |
| Parent | Pilot Group |
History
Barrington Broadcasting is a media company that was established in May 2003 by a team of former executives from Benedek Broadcasting. Following Benedek's bankruptcy and subsequent divestiture of all television assets in 2002, K. James Yager, the former President, along with Senior Vice-Presidents Chris Cornelius, Keith Bland, and Mary Flodin, combined their expertise to form a new company dedicated exclusively to medium and small market broadcasting.[2]
The company began operations in January 2004 with its purchases of former Benedek stations WHOI-TV (Peoria, Illinois) and KHQA-TV (Hannibal, Missouri/Quincy, Illinois) along with WEYI-TV in Vienna Township, Michigan. Barrington grew slowly at first, adding five more stations between 2004 and early 2006. A major expansion took place on March 27, 2006, when Raycom Media agreed to sell twelve of its network-affiliated TV stations to Barrington for $262 million.[3] The sale was completed on August 11.[4] In recent years, Barrington has been at the forefront of integrating social media and the internet into their on-air content.[2]
In late 2012, it was announced that Pilot Group had put Barrington up for sale and that both Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group were in final talks to acquire the full regiment of stations.[5] On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced that it would sell its stations to Sinclair.[6] The sale was granted FCC approval on November 18.[7] The transaction was formally consummated on November 25.[8]
Former Barrington-owned stations
Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
Notes:
- (**) – Indicates that it was acquired by Barrington Broadcasting as its founding stations.
- (++) – Indicates a station acquired from Raycom Media in 2006.
| City of license / Market | Station | Channel TV (RF) |
Years owned | Current status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Springs - Pueblo, Colorado | KXRM-TV ++ | 21 (22) | 2006–2013 | Fox affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
| KXTU-LD ++ | 57 (20) | 2006–2013 | The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group | |
| Albany, Georgia | WFXL ++ | 31 (12) | 2006–2013 | Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Peoria - Bloomington, Illinois | WHOI ** | 19 (19) | 2004–2013 | TBD TV owned-and-operated station (O&O), owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Marquette, Michigan | WLUC-TV ++ | 6 (35) | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television |
| Saginaw - Bay City - Flint - Midland, Michigan | WEYI-TV | 25 (30) | 2004–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Howard Stirk Holdings (Operated through an SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) |
| WBSF | 46 (46) | 2004–2013 | The CW affiliate owned by Cunningham Broadcasting (Operated through an SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) | |
| Traverse City - Cheboygan - Cadillac - Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan |
WPBN-TV ++ | 7 (47) | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| WTOM-TV ++ (Satellite of WPBN) |
4 (35) | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| WGTU | 29 (29) | 2009–2013 1 | ABC affiliate owned by Cunningham Broadcasting (Operated through an SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) | |
| WGTQ (Satellite of WGTU) |
8 (8) | 2009–2013 1 | ABC affiliate owned by Cunningham Broadcasting (Operated through an SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) | |
| Columbia - Jefferson City, Missouri | KRCG | 13 (12) | 2005–2013 | CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Hannibal, Missouri - Quincy, Illinois - Keokuk, Iowa | KHQA-TV ** | 7 (7) | 2004–2013 | CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Kirksville, Missouri - Ottumwa, Iowa | KTVO ++ | 3 (33) | 2006–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Syracuse, New York | WSTM-TV ++ | 3 (24) | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| WTVH | 5 (47) | 2 | CBS affiliate owned by Granite Broadcasting (Operated under a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) | |
| WSTQ-LP ++ | 14 (3.2) | 2006–2013 | The CW affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Toledo - Findlay, Ohio | WNWO-TV ++ | 24 (49) | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Columbia, South Carolina | WACH ++ | 57 (48) | 2006–2013 | Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Florence - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina | WPDE-TV | 15 (16) | 2005–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| WWMB | 21 (21) | 3 | Dabl affiliate owned by Howard Stirk Holdings (Operated through an SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) | |
| Amarillo, Texas - Clovis, New Mexico | KVII-TV | 7 (7) | 2005–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| KVIH-TV (Satellite of KVII) |
12 (12) | 2005–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Harlingen - McAllen - Brownsville, Texas | KGBT-TV ++ | 4 (31) | 2006–2013 | Antenna TV owned-and-operated station (O&O), owned by Nexstar Media Group |
Other Notes:
- 1 Owned by Tucker Broadcasting, Barrington operated WGTU under a Local marketing agreement.
- 2 Owned by Granite Broadcasting, Barrington operated WTVH under a Local marketing agreement.
- 3 Owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, Barrington operated WWMB under a Local marketing agreement.
Company Management
- K. James Yager - Chief Executive Officer
- Christoper H. Cornelius - Chief Operating Officer
- Warren Spector, Chief Financial Officer
- Mary L. Flodin - Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration
- Keith L. Bland - Senior Vice President, Acquisitions & Development
- James Clark - President & CEO, Barrington Interactive
Company Employees
- Brian Bauer - VP & GM - Interactive Division
References
- "About Us". Barrington Broadcasting corporate website. 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
- Malone, Michael (2011). "K. James Yager, CEO and Co-founder, Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC". Broadcasting & Cable magazine via website. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
- Raycom and Barrington Announce Deal For Twelve Television Stations, businesswire.com, 27 March 2006, Retrieved 6 November 2018.
- "Barrington and Raycom Announce Completion of Transaction for Twelve Television Stations". Raycom Media. 11 August 2006. Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
- "Sinclair, Nexstar in Running for Barrington". TV News Check-Jack Messmer. 29 November 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
- Malone, Michael (February 28, 2013). "Sinclair's Chesapeake TV Acquires Barrington Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
- FCC approves sales of three Syracuse TV stations cnyradio.com, Retrieved 19 November 2013
- "Sinclair Broadcast Group Closes On Acquisition Of Barrington Stations". Sinclair Broadcast Group. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2018.