LIN TV
From Free net encyclopedia
LIN TV Corporation Template:NYSE is an American holding company that operates 29 television stations.
History
LIN TV Corp.’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 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.
In 1989, Gary R. Chapman joined LIN Broadcasting as President of its television operations. Mr. Chapman currently serves as Chairman, President and CEO of LIN TV Corp.
In March 1990, McCaw Cellular Communications purchased a 52% interest in LIN Broadcasting. McCaw was acquired by AT&T in 1994, after which LIN Broadcasting’s 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 HMTF’s 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 established Banks Broadcasting, a minority-owned television broadcast company in which it holds a 50% interest. Today, Banks owns WB(And soon-to-be The CW) affiliate KWCV-TV in Wichita, Kansas and UPN 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 still provides management oversight for WAND.
LIN purchased WWLP-TV in Springfield, Massachusetts in 2000. In 2001, LIN acquired WJPX-TV 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, LIN TV announced the sale of two television stations in Abilene and San Angelo, Texas.
Stations
TV stations Owned and/or Operated by LIN
| Current DMA# | Market | Station | Channel (DT) | Current Affiliation | Acquired | Notes | |
| 25. | Indianapolis, Indiana | WISH-TV | 8 (9) | CBS | 1954 | Original station of LIN group, ex-flagship | |
| WNDY-TV | 23 (32) | UPN* | 2005 | Licensed to Marion, Indiana;* To be independent Fall 2006 | |||
| WIIH-CA | 17 | Univision | ca 2000 | Simulcasted WISH's weather radar until 2003 | |||
| 28. | New Haven, Connecticut | WTNH | 8 (10) | ABC | 1994 | ||
| WCTX | 59 (39) | UPN* | 2001 | Operated by LIN since 1995*; To be independent Fall 2006 | |||
| 34. | Columbus, Ohio | WWHO | 53 (46) | UPN/WB1 | 2005 | Licensed to Chillicothe, Ohio | |
| 38. | Grand Rapids, Michigan | WOOD-TV | 8 (7) | NBC | 1999 | ||
| Kalamazoo, Michigan | WOTV | 41 (20) | ABC | 2001 | LMA'd by LIN for several years prior | ||
| WXSP-CA | 15** | UPN | 2002 | ** Simulcasted on:
| |||
| 42. | Norfolk, Virginia | WAVY-TV | 10 (31) | NBC | 1968 | Licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia | |
| WVBT | 43 | Fox | 2002 | Operated by LIN since 1995; licensed to Virginia Beach | |||
| 46. | Albuquerque, New Mexico | KRQE | 13 (16) | CBS | 2005 | ||
| Roswell, New Mexico | KBIM | 10 (41) | CBS | 2005 | Satellite of KRQE | ||
| Durango, Colorado | KREZ | 6 (15) | CBS | 2005 | Satellite of KRQE | ||
| 49. | Buffalo, New York | WIVB-TV | 4 (32) | CBS | 1994 | ||
| WNLO | 23 (39) | UPN1 | 2001 | Was Independent until 2003 | |||
| 51. | Providence, Rhode Island | WPRI | 12 (13) | CBS | 2002 | Flagship | |
| WNAC-TV | 64 (54) | Fox | LMA | Owned by LIN 2001-02 | |||
| 53. | Austin, Texas | KXAN | 36 (21) | NBC | 1987 | ||
| KNVA | 54 (49) | WB1 | LMA | Operated by LIN since mid-1990s | |||
| KBVO-CA | 51 | TeleFutura | 2001 | ||||
| 59. | Dayton, Ohio | WDTN | 2 (50) | NBC | 2002 | Was ABC until 2004 | |
| 62. | Mobile, Alabama | WALA-TV | 10 (9) | Fox | 2005 | ||
| WBPG | 55 (NA) | WB1 | 2005 | Licensed to Gulf Shores, Alabama | |||
| 69. | Green Bay, Wisconsin | WLUK-TV | 11 (51) | Fox | 2005 | ||
| 70. | Toledo, Ohio | WUPW | 36 (46) | Fox | 2002 | ||
| 82. | Decatur, Illinois | WAND-TV | 17 (18) | NBC | *** | ***Owned by Block Communications in a joint venture; was LIN-owned for much of the 1990's Was ABC until 2005 | |
| 106. | Fort Wayne, Indiana | WANE-TV | 15 (31) | CBS | 1954 | UPN Fort Wayne on 31.2 | |
| 108. | Springfield, Massachusetts | WWLP | 22 (11) | NBC | 2000 | ||
| 150. | Terre Haute, Indiana | WTHI-TV | 10 (24) | CBS | 2005 | ||
| 191. | Lafayette, Indiana | WLFI | 18 (11) | CBS | 2000 | Obtained in exchange for WAND |
1Stations that will become part of The CW Television Network in September 2006.
LIN also owns two stations in San Juan, Puerto Rico and their satellite stations across Puerto Rico.
| Station | Channel (DT) | Affiliation | Acquired | Notes |
| WAPA-TV | 4 (27) | Independent | 1998 | Satellites |
| WJPX | 24 (21) | MTV/Local | ? | Satellites
|
LIN has partial holdings in four other stations, however LIN does not control these stations:
- A 50% share in Banks Broadcasting, which owns:
- KNIN 9 (UPN) Boise, Idaho (To join The CW Fall 2006)
- KSCW 36 (WB) Wichita, Kansas(To join The CW Fall 2006)
- 24% of two NBC Owned-and-Operated stations
- KNSD 39/7 San Diego, California
- KXAS 5, Fort Worth, Texas (see below table)
Former LIN Stations
| Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Owned by LIN | Sold To | Current Ownership | Notes |
| Abilene, Texas | KRBC-TV | 9 | NBC | 2002-04 | Mission Broadcasting | Mission Broadcasting | Controlled by Nexstar-owned KTAB |
| Fort Worth-Dallas, Texas | KXAS-TV | 5 | NBC | 1975-97 | NBC | NBC | 24% retained by LIN |
| San Angelo, Texas | KACB | 3 | NBC | 2002-04 | Mission Broadcasting | Mission Broadcasting | Now KSAN-TV; semi-satellite of KRBC, controlled by Nextar-owned KLST |
| Bay City, Michigan | WEYI-TV | 25 | NBC | 2002-04 | Barrington Broadcasting | Barrington Broadcasting |