Communications Corporation of America
Communications Corporation of America (also known as ComCorp) was a broadcasting company in the United States that owned television stations in smaller markets. The company was headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.[1] It owned and/or operated 20 stations (counting satellite stations and those controlled via local marketing agreements). The company began in 1989 and the next year, it purchased three television stations from Southwest MultiMedia Company of Houston: KVEO in Brownsville, KPEJ in Odessa, and KWKT in Waco, and they purchased the license for WPFT in Baton Rouge, LA, which they signed on in 1991 as WGMB.[2]
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Type | Private (subsidiary of Silver Point Capital) |
---|---|
Industry | Telecommunications |
Fate | Acquired by Nexstar |
Successor | Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
Founded | 1989 |
Founder | Thomas R. Galloway D. Wayne Elmore |
Defunct | January 1, 2015 |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Thomas R. Galloway, CEO |
Services | Television stations |
Owner | Thomas R. Galloway D. Wayne Elmore |
Number of employees | 345 |
At one point, ComCorp was also an owner of radio stations in its home market of Lafayette; it subsequently sold those stations to Regent Communications.[3]
In June 2006, ComCorp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[4] The company emerged from bankruptcy in October 2007 under the control of Silver Point Capital, who also controlled Granite Broadcasting.[1]
Local news on ComCorp's owned or managed stations are structured variably, with most stations not producing news in-house. As of May 2011, the only ComCorp owned-and-operated stations with in-house local newscasts are KTSM-TV and KETK-TV; two ComCorp managed stations, WVLA-TV and KDBC-TV also produce their own newscasts. Most of the remainder of the company's stations have their newscasts outsourced to other stations in the company portfolio: most of ComCorp's Fox stations in Louisiana and Texas have local newscasts produced by KETK (with the exception of WGMB in Baton Rouge, whose newscasts are produced out of area sister station WVLA); the newscasts for NBC affiliate KVEO-TV in Brownsville, Texas, though are produced by El Paso CBS affiliate KDBC-TV); the remainder of ComCorp's owned and managed stations, including CBS affiliate WEVV-TV (the only Big Three station in the group without any local news), do not carry news at all.
On January 15, 2013, Communications Corporation of America put all of its 25 owned or managed stations up for sale, with investment firm Houlihan Lokey hired to assist in the exploration of sale options.[5][6] On April 24, ComCorp announced that its entire group would be sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group; KMSS-TV, KPEJ-TV and most of the ComCorp-managed stations that are owned by White Knight Broadcasting would be sold to Mission Broadcasting while WEVV-TV and White Knight Broadcasting's KSHV-TV would be sold to a female-controlled company called Rocky Creek Communications, with Nexstar assuming operational control of those stations.[7] However, on June 6, 2014, Nexstar announced that it would instead sell KMSS & KPEJ to a new minority-owned company Marshall Broadcasting Group (marking the company's first television station acquisitions) for $58.5 million.[8] Also on August 4, Nexstar announced that it would instead sell WEVV to Bayou City Broadcasting for $18.6 million.[9] Mission & Rocky Creek would later withdraw its applications to acquire KFXK, KSHV & WVLA.[10][11][12] The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.[13]
It was the last remaining TV station group that didn't have an ABC affiliate when sold; however, it had temporarily owned and operated current-Fox affiliate WHBQ-TV of Memphis during its last days as an ABC affiliate and managed KAQY in Monroe, Louisiana during its first nine years as an ABC affiliate.
Former ComCorp-owned stations
Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license.
City of license / Market | Station | Channel TV (RF) |
Years owned | Current ownership status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Evansville, Indiana | WTSN-CD | 36 (36) | 1999–2009 1 | MeTV affiliate owned by Evansville Low Power Partnership |
WEVV-TV | 44 (45) | 1999–2015 | CBS affiliate owned by Allen Media Broadcasting | |
W47EE-D/WEEV-LD | 47 (47) | 2011–2015 | Fox affiliate owned by Allen Media Broadcasting | |
Baton Rouge, Louisiana | WGMB-TV | 44 (45) | 1991–2015 | Fox affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
WBRL-CD | 21 (21) | 2002–2015 | The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group | |
WVLA-TV | 33 (34) | 1996–2015 2 | NBC affiliate owned by White Knight Broadcasting (Operated through SSA by Nexstar Media Group) | |
KZUP-CD | 19 (20) | 2002–2015 2 | Independent station owned by Nexstar Media Group | |
Lafayette, Louisiana | KADN-TV | 15 (16) | 1997–2015 | Fox affiliate owned by Allen Media Broadcasting |
KLAF-LD | 46 (46) | 1997–2015 3 | NBC affiliate owned by Allen Media Broadcasting | |
Shreveport, Louisiana | KMSS-TV | 33 (34) | 1994–2015 | Fox affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting (Operated through SSA by Nexstar Media Group) |
KSHV-TV | 45 (44) | 1995–2015 2 | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by White Knight Broadcasting (Operated through SSA by Nexstar Media Group) | |
Natchez, Mississippi - Alexandria, Louisiana | WNTZ-TV | 48 (49) | 1997–2015 4 | Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
Memphis, Tennessee | WHBQ-TV | 13 (13) | 1994–1995 | Fox affiliate owned by Cox Media Group |
Brownsville - Harlingen - McAllen | KVEO-TV | 23 (24) | 1990–2015 | NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
El Paso, Texas | KTSM-TV | 9 (16) | 1997–2015 | NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
KDBC-TV | 4 (18) | 5 | CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
Jacksonville - Tyler - Longview | KETK-TV | 56 (22) | 2004–2015 6 | NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
KFXK-TV | 51 (31) | 1998–2015 2 | Fox affiliate owned by White Knight Broadcasting (Operated through SSA by Nexstar Media Group) | |
Killeen - Austin, Texas | KAKW | 62 (13) | 1996–2002 | Univision owned-and-operated (O&O), KAKW-DT |
Lufkin - Nacogdoches, Texas | KFXL-LP (Satellite of KFXK-TV) |
30 | 2 | Fox affiliate owned by White Knight Broadcasting (Operated through SSA by Nexstar Media Group) |
KETK-LP (Satellite of KETK-TV) |
56 | 2004–2011 7 | defunct, went dark in 2009 | |
Odessa - Midland, Texas | KPEJ-TV | 24 (23) | 1990–2015 | Fox affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting (Operated through SSA by Nexstar Media Group) |
Waco - Temple | KWKT-TV | 44 (44) | 1990–2015 | Fox affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
Bryan - College Station, Texas | KYLE-TV (Satellite of KWKT-TV) |
28 (28) | 1996–2015 | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
Footnotes:
- 1 This station was owned by Evansville Low Power Partnership and controlled by ComCorp. At the time, ComCorp held a 49 percent stake in Evansville Low Power Partnership.
- 2 Owned by White Knight Broadcasting, ComCorp operated these stations under a local marketing agreement.
- 3 ComCorp took over KADN under a local marketing agreement in 1997, but the station remained under the ownership of Charles Chatelain until ComCorp purchased it outright in 2004.
- 4 WNTZ had been acquired by White Knight Broadcasting in 1997, with ComCorp controlling the station; it was not transferred to ComCorp directly until 2007.
- 5 KDBC was operated by ComCorp under a shared services agreement.
- 6 ComCorp acquired the KETK license in 2004; however, it had operated the station since 1999, when it purchased the non-license assets from Sinclair Broadcast Group (which retained the KETK license until 2004).
- 7 This station was owned by KM Communications and controlled by ComCorp.
Radio stations
AM Station | FM Station |
Market | Station | Years owned | Current ownership |
---|---|---|---|
El Paso, Texas | KTSM 1380 | 1997–1998 | KHEY, owned by iHeartMedia |
KTSM-FM 99.9 | 1997–1998 | owned by iHeartMedia | |
Lafayette, Louisiana | KROF 960 | 1999–2001 | owned by Townsquare Media |
KPEL 1420 | 1989–2001 | owned by Townsquare Media | |
KFTE 96.5 | 1996–2001 | KPEL-FM, owned by Townsquare Media | |
KMDL 97.3 | 1996–2001 | owned by Townsquare Media | |
KTDY 99.9 | 1989–2001 | owned by Townsquare Media | |
KPEL-FM/KRXZ 107.7 | 1997–1998 | changed frequencies | |
KRXZ/KRKA 107.9 | 1998–2001 | KHXT, owned by Townsquare Media |
References
- "ComCorp Ready For Its Next Chapter". TVnewsday. 2007-11-06. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
- "Local Firm Buys Media Properties," The Daily Advertiser, Lafayette, LA, September 30, 1990, Page I-1
- "Regent to Buy 7 Radio Stations From ComCorp". Los Angeles Times. 2001-08-30. p. C-5. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
- "Communications Corporation of America" (PDF). PacerMonitor. PacerMonitor. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- CCA Puts Its 25 Stations On The Market, TVNewsCheck, January 15, 2013
- Exclusive: Communications Corp. of America Puts Stations on Block, Broadcasting & Cable, January 14, 2013.
- http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/67066/nexstar-mission-buy-19-stations-for-270m
- Nexstar Selling 3 Fox Affils For $58.5 Million, TVNewsCheck, June 6, 2014.
- Nexstar Selling WEVV For $18.6 Million, TVNewsCheck, August 4, 2014.
- Application Info, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101552312&qnum=5040©num=1&exhcnum=1
- Application Info, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 6 January 2015.