Everything about Lin Tv totally explained
LIN TV Corporation is an American
holding company that operates 31
television stations.
History
LIN TV's roots trace back to the founding of its former parent, LIN Broadcasting Corporation, in the mid
1960s. LIN Broadcasting was engaged in
radio,
television,
direct marketing, information and learning,
music publishing, and
record labels. LIN takes its initials from three major cities where it originally owned radio stations:
Louisville,
Indianapolis and
Nashville (all located on
Interstate 65).
LIN Broadcasting made acquisitions in broadcasting, expanded into
paging, and in the early
1980s the company entered the fledgling
cellular telephone business. By
1983 the company owned seven television stations and by
1985 it owned and managed cellular telephone licenses serving
Dallas,
Houston,
Los Angeles,
New York City, and
Philadelphia. LIN Broadcasting sold its paging operations and six of its radio stations in
1986 to help finance the development of its cellular business.
LIN Television's
Chief Executive Officer is
Vincent L. Sadusky. Sadusky had formerly been LIN's
Chief Financial Officer as well as Vice President and treasurer since 2004, and previously was CFO for
Telemundo, working closely on its sale to
GE/
NBC. Sadusky had been interim CEO since former Chairman
Gary R. Chapman announced his impending retirement in June 2006, and through the company's search for a permanent replacement. He was officially installed as CEO upon Chapman's official retirement on
July 10,
2006.
(External Link
)
In March
1990,
McCaw Cellular Communications purchased a 52% interest in LIN Broadcasting. McCaw was acquired by
AT&T in
1994, after which LIN Broadcastings television operations were spun off as a public company traded on the
NASDAQ stock market and 45%-owned by AT&T. The new company, LIN Television Corporation, owned and/or operated 12 stations and its stock price increased at a compounded annual growth rate of 31% between
1994 and
1998. During this period LIN acquired
WIVB-TV in
Buffalo, New York and
WTNH-TV in
New Haven, Connecticut.
In March 1998, LIN Television was acquired by Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Incorporated (HMTF), a leading private investment firm based in Dallas, Texas. At the time of the HMTF acquisition, LIN contributed its Dallas
NBC affiliate to a joint venture with the network that also holds the
San Diego affiliate. Under HMTFs ownership, LIN Television has grown considerably through a wide range of transactions:
In June
1999, LIN acquired
WOOD-TV in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, a station to which it had been providing consulting services for a number of years.
In August, LIN helped finance the establishment of
Banks Broadcasting, a minority-owned television broadcast company in which it holds a 50% interest. Today, Banks owns the
CW Television Network affiliate
KNIN-TV in
Boise, Idaho.
LIN purchased
WAPA-TV in San Juan, Puerto Rico in October. In April
2000, LIN acquired
WLFI-TV, serving
Lafayette, Indiana in exchange for 66% of its station
WAND-TV in
Decatur, Illinois. LIN continued to provide management oversight for WAND for several years after the swap was completed.
LIN purchased
WWLP-TV in
Springfield, Massachusetts in 2000. In 2001, LIN acquired
WJPX and two satellite facilities in Puerto Rico, and
WNLO-TV in Buffalo.
The company exercised and closed on options to purchase
WOTV-TV in
Battle Creek, Michigan and
WVBT-TV in
Norfolk, Virginia, both stations that it had already managed, in January
2002.
In February, LIN agreed to acquire seven stations in six markets from STC Broadcasting. The transaction of the stations was completed in May. Also in May, LIN TV Corp. completed the issuance of 19.55 million shares of Class A Common Stock through its
Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
In December 2002, LIN TV announced the sale of two television stations in
Abilene and
San Angelo, Texas. This was followed in January 2004 by the sale of a station in
Flint, Michigan.
In late August 2005, LIN purchased several stations from
Emmis Communications, the stations purchased were
WALA and
WBPG in
Mobile, Alabama,
WTHI-TV in
Terre Haute, Indiana,
KRQE in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, and
WLUK in
Green Bay, Wisconsin. In July 2006, LIN announced the planned purchase a second station in New Mexico,
KASA-TV, from
Raycom Media.
In May, 2006, LIN TV announced the sale of Puerto Rico stations WAPA-TV and WJPX to
InterMedia Partners, L.P. for $130 million.
(External Link)
On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company.
(External Link)
In Novermber 2007, LIN TV completed the sale of its share of WAND to
Block Communications. With this sale, LIN TV no longer manages the station.
Stations
TV stations Owned and/or Operated by LIN
DMA#
| Market |
Station |
Channel (DT) |
Current Affiliation |
Acquired |
Notes |
26.
| Indianapolis, Indiana |
WISH-TV |
8 (9) |
CBS |
1984 |
Ex-flagship |
WNDY-TV
| 23 (32) |
MyNetworkTV |
2005 |
Licensed to Marion, Indiana |
WIIH-CA
| 17 |
Univision |
ca 2000 |
Simulcasted WISH's weather radar until 2003 |
29.
| New Haven, Connecticut |
WTNH |
8 (10) |
ABC |
1994 |
|
WCTX
| 59 (39) |
MyNetworkTV |
2001 |
Operated by LIN since 1995 |
Columbus, Ohio
| WWHO |
53 (46) |
CW |
2005 |
Licensed to Chillicothe, Ohio
Was UPN/WB until Sept. 2006 |
39.
| Grand Rapids, Michigan |
WOOD-TV |
8 (7) |
NBC |
1999 |
|
Battle Creek, Michigan
| WOTV |
41 (20) |
ABC |
2001 |
LMA'd by LIN for several years prior |
WXSP-CA
| 15** |
MyNetworkTV |
2002 |
** Simulcasted on:
- WOBC-CA 14 Battle Creek
- WOLP-CA 27 Grand Rapids
- WOMS-CA 29 Muskegon
- WOHO-CA 33 Holland
- WOKZ-CA 50 Kalamazoo
- WOOD-DT 8.2 and WOTV-DT 41.2
|
42.
| Norfolk, Virginia |
WAVY-TV |
10 (31) |
NBC |
1968 |
Licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia |
WVBT
| 43 (29) |
Fox |
2002 |
Operated by LIN since 1995; licensed to Virginia Beach |
44.
| Albuquerque, New Mexico |
KRQE |
13 (16) |
CBS |
2005 |
|
KASA-TV
| 2 (27) |
Fox |
2007 |
|
Roswell, New Mexico
| KBIM |
10 (41) |
CBS |
2005 |
Satellite of KRQE |
Durango, Colorado
| KREZ |
6 (15) |
CBS |
2005 |
Satellite of KRQE |
50.
| Buffalo, New York |
WIVB-TV |
4 (32) |
CBS |
1995 |
|
WNLO
| 23 (39) |
CW |
2001 |
Was Independent until 2003; UPN until Sept. 2006 |
51.
| Austin, Texas |
KXAN |
36 (21) |
NBC |
1979 |
|
KNVA
| 54 (49) |
CW (primary)/
MyNetworkTV (secondary) |
LMA |
Operated by LIN since the 1990s.
Was WB until Sept. 2006 |
KBVO-CA
| 51 |
TeleFutura |
2001 |
|
Llano, Texas
| KXAM-TV |
14 (27) |
NBC |
1987 |
Satellite of KXAN |
52.
| Providence, Rhode Island |
WPRI |
12 (13) |
CBS |
2002 |
Flagship |
WNAC-TV
| 64 (54) |
Fox (primary)/
MyNetworkTV (secondary) |
LMA |
Owned by LIN 2001-02 |
61.
| Mobile, Alabama |
WALA-TV |
10 (9) |
Fox |
2005 |
|
WBPG
| 55 (9) |
CW |
2006 |
Licensed to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Operated by LIN since 2005. Was WB until Sept. 2006
High-definition programming on WALA-DT2 (10.2). |
Dayton, Ohio
| WDTN |
2 (50) |
NBC |
2002 |
Was ABC until 2004 |
Green Bay, Wisconsin
| WLUK-TV |
11 (51) |
Fox |
2005 |
|
Toledo, Ohio
| WUPW |
36 (46) |
Fox |
2002 |
|
Fort Wayne, Indiana
| WANE-TV |
15 (31) |
CBS |
1984 |
|
Springfield, Massachusetts
| WWLP |
22 (11) |
NBC |
2000 |
|
Holyoke, Massachusetts
| WFXQ-CA |
28 |
NBC |
2006 |
repeater of WWLP; future is uncertain |
Terre Haute, Indiana
| WTHI-TV |
10 (24) |
CBS |
2005 |
|
Lafayette, Indiana
| WLFI-TV |
18 (11) |
CBS |
2000 |
Obtained in exchange for WAND |
LIN has partial holdings in three other stations, however LIN doesn't control these stations:
A 50% share in Banks Broadcasting, which owns one CW affiliate:
24% of two NBC Owned-and-Operated stations
Former LIN Stations
LIN also previously owned two stations in San Juan, Puerto Rico and their satellite stations across Puerto Rico; they were sold to InterMedia Partners, L.P. in March 2007. The more notable of the two, WAPA, also has a cable feed called WAPA America which is seen on DirecTV, RCN and several cable systems along the East Coast and in St. Croix.
Further Information
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