Local TV LLC

Local TV LLC

Former type	Private
Industry	Broadcast television
Fate	Acquired by Tribune
Predecessors	Broadcasting division of The New York Times Company 8 stations owned by Fox Television Stations
Successors	Tribune Broadcasting
Founded	2006
Defunct	December 27, 2013
Headquarters	Newport, Kentucky, United States
Key people	Bobby Lawrence, CEO
Owners	Oak Hill Capital Partners

Local TV LLC was a television broadcasting company owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners which operated 20 television stations in the United States.^[1][2] The group was formed in 2006 by the acquisition of nine television stations owned by The New York Times Company, and grew further with the acquisition of eight former Fox owned-and-operated stations from Fox Television Stations, and a wide partnership with Tribune Broadcasting to provide management services for the stations (in turn, Local TV also operated several Tribune stations as well).

On July 1, 2013, Tribune announced that it would acquire Local TV LLC for $2.7 billion, a deal which was approved by the FCC on December 20, and was completed on December 27.^[3]

History

Local TV was created in December 2006, after Oak Hill Capital entered into an agreement with The New York Times Company to purchase nine local network-affiliated television stations; on May 7, 2007, the sale was completed as one part of a larger sale of the New York Times Company's Broadcast Media Group "for approximately $575 million."^[4] At 12:01 a.m., Local TV assumed ownership of the nine television stations, located in "eight mid-sized markets."^[2]

On December 21, 2007, Tribune Broadcasting and Local TV agreed to form a "broadcast management company" to provide management services to both Tribune and Local TV's stations.^[5] Also as part of the agreement, the websites for Local TV's stations were transitioned to a platform developed and managed by Tribune Interactive.^[6] The next day, December 22, 2007, Local TV announced plans to acquire eight Fox owned-and-operated stations from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, completing that sale on July 14, 2008.^[7] Local TV's partnership with Tribune expanded on September 17, 2008, as the company announced that it would take over Tribune's CW affiliates KWGN-TV and KPLR-TV under local marketing agreements, and consolidate them with KDVR and KTVI respectively.^[8]

As part of Tribune's management agreement, the Local TV stations unveiled redesigned websites operated by Tribune Interactive beginning in January 2009, with the Fox affiliates websites being migrated to the new layout from News Corp. Digital Media's website hosting platform; Local TV later migrated its stations' websites to those hosted by WordPress.com beginning in January 2012.

On January 2009, Raycom Media announced that it would acquire one of Local TV's former Fox O&Os, WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama, in exchange for its CBS affiliate WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia and $85 million. Raycom was required to divest WTVR as a condition of its purchase of Lincoln Financial Media's stations (which included Richmond's NBC station WWBT), as Richmond did not have enough stations to legally permit a duopoly. Raycom was previously blocked from selling WTVR to Sinclair Broadcast Group.^[9] The swap also benefited Raycom, as it is based in, and already has a strong media presence in the state of Alabama.^[10] On June 14, 2010, CBS Corporation announced that it would sell its CW O&O WGNT in Hampton Roads to Local TV, making it a sister station to its existing CBS affiliate WTKR.^[11]

In March 2013, Oak Hill Capital began notifying stations that it was planning to sell the Local TV stations. On July 1, 2013, Tribune Broadcasting announced that it would acquire the company outright for $2.7 billion.^[12][13] The deal was approved by the FCC on December 20, ^[14] with the completion of the sale on December 27.^[3]

Officers

President and chief executive officer (CEO) was Robert (Bobby) Lawrence, who, Local TV announced on December 20, 2007, would succeed Randy Michaels (aka Benjamin Homel), former CEO of Clear Channel Communications and Local TV's first CEO, who became chief operating officer (COO) of Tribune Company, on May 7, 2008.^[1][15][16]

Chief financial officer (CFO) of Local TV is Pam Taylor.^[1]

Former Local TV-owned stations

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

Notes:

• (**) – Indicates a station owned by The New York Times Company, prior to the formation of Local TV, LLC in 2007.
• (++) – Indicates a station acquired from Fox Television Stations in 2008; All of Local TV's Fox affiliates and WTVR-TV were technically owned by FoxCo Acquisition Sub, LLC, which in turn was a wholly owned subsidiary of Local TV.

Other Note:

• ¹ WBQD-LP was owned by Four Seasons Broadcasting, an affiliate of the Venture Technologies Group, LLC, and operated by WQAD-TV through a local marketing agreement. The station formerly operated on analog channel 26, until it shut down in 2012; WBQD's license was deleted by the FCC on June 6, 2013; WQAD 8.3 relayed the station's signal, and now serves as the sole MyNetworkTV affiliate for the Davenport-Moline market.

References

Related audiovisual resources

• "Local TV & Local Responsibility Part One: Stop Big Media". The National Conference for Media Reform. The Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. May 19, 2007. 25 mins. Video clip. video.google.com (Google). (Part 1 of 3-part videotaped "Panel Discussion on the takeover of New York Times Corporation[']s news stations by Oak Hill Capital Partners and its holding company.")