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 |
| Fate | Acquired by Sinclair |
| Successor | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Founded | May 2003 |
| Founders | Keith Bland Chris Cornelius Mary Flodin K. James Yager |
| Defunct | November 25, 2013 |
| 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 was formed in May 2003 by a group of former Benedek Broadcasting executives. With Benedek having filed for bankruptcy and divested itself of all television properties in 2002, former President K. James Yager along with Senior Vice-Presidents Chris Cornelius, Keith Bland, and Mary Flodin pooled their talents to create a new company to focus solely on 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 ownership 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 | Comet TV affiliate 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 a SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) |
| WBSF | 46 (46) | 2004–2013 | The CW affiliate owned by Cunningham Broadcasting (Operated through a 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 a SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group) | |
| WGTQ (Satellite of WGTU) |
8 (8) | 2009–2013 1 | ABC affiliate owned by Cunningham Broadcasting (Operated through a 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 SSA 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 | The CW affiliate owned by Howard Stirk Holdings (Operated through a 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 | TBD owned-and-operated station (O&O), owned by Sinclair Broadcast 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. Retrieved 12 January 2018.