Media General

Media General, Inc.

Type	Public (Acquisition by Nexstar Broadcasting Group pending)
Traded as	NYSE: MEG
Industry	Broadcast and Digital
Predecessor	Park Communications Spartan Communications Young Broadcasting LIN Media
Founded	1940
Headquarters	Richmond, Virginia Providence, Rhode Island Austin, Texas
Key people	Warren Buffett (Financier) Mario Gabelli (Financier) J. Stewart Bryan III (Chairman) Vincent L. Sadusky (President and CEO)
Products	Television Radio Internet
Revenue	$1.305 B USD (2015)
Website	www.mediageneral.com

Media General, Inc. is an American media company based in the Southeastern United States. The company was formed in 1940 when Richmond, Virginia's two newspapers, the Times-Dispatch and News Leader, merged to form Richmond Newspapers. In 1969, as the company's media properties grew and diversified, it was renamed Media General. Media General is headquartered in Richmond and the San Francisco Bay Area is its largest market.

In 2013 and 2014, Media General expanded significantly through its mergers with Young Broadcasting and LIN Media; as of the latter merger, Media General is now run by the principal staff of LIN Media, including CEO Vincent L. Sadusky.

History

The conglomeration of newspapers was founded in 1940 when owners of Richmond, Virginia's two newspapers, the Times-Dispatch and News Leader, merged them to form Richmond Newspapers, Inc. In 1969, as the company's media properties grew and diversified, it was renamed Media General.

Additional Acquisitions

In 1982 the company acquired The William B. Tanner Company (previously known as Pepper-Tanner), a commercial radio jingle production company headquartered in Memphis. It was divested in 1988.

In 1996, Media General acquired Park Acquisitions, the holding company for Park Communications, formerly owned by the media entrepreneur Roy H. Park.^[1]

In 1999, Media General bought Spartanburg-based Spartan Communications, which increased Media General's station portfolio from 14 to 27.^[2]

Four NBC-owned stations in smaller markets that were put up for sale on January 9, 2006 on April 6 NBC Universal and Media General announced that the latter would purchase the four NBC O&O's as part of a $600 million four-station deal between the two companies.

Divestment of properties in the late 2000s

On August 2, 2006, Media General announced that it would sell WIAT and KIMT to New Vision Television for $35 million; the sale was finalized on October 12, 2006.

On October 29, 2007, Media General announced that the company was exploring the sale of WCWJ, KALB-TV, WMBB, WTVQ, and WNEG-TV. On March 14, 2008, the company reached an agreement to sell KALB and WMBB to Hoak Media. The deal was closed on July 16. On June 25, 2008, Media General announced the sale of WNEG-TV to the University of Georgia.^[3] On January 28, 2009, the Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to purchase WCWJ. The deal was finalized on May 1, 2009.

2010s: Expansions, merger with LIN Media

On June 6, 2013, it was announced that Young Broadcasting and Media General would merge. Due to the way the merger was structured, Young Broadcasting's shareholders controlled a majority of Media General's stock following the merger. The combined company owned 30 stations, reaching 14% of the United States.^[4] On November 8, FCC approved the merger.^[5]

On March 21, 2014, Media General and LIN Media announced that the two companies would merge. The deal, worth an estimated $1.6 billion, would create an entity of 71 stations with a combined reach of 24% of U.S. television households. 45 Media General staff members were laid off; CEO George Mahoney stepped down in favor of his LIN counterpart Vincent Sadusky, and his own management team.^[6] In order to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit future joint sales agreements, some of the stations would be sold to several other companies in five markets (Birmingham, Green Bay, Mobile, Providence and Savannah) where both groups already own stations.^[7][8][9]

On August 20, 2014, Media General and LIN Media announced several sales. Media General sold WJAR, WLUK, and WCWF to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in exchange for Sinclair's KXRM, KXTU, and WTTA. Hearst Television acquired WVTM and WJCL, and Meredith Corporation acquired WALA.^[10] On October 6, the two companies' shareholders approved the deal,^[11] and the FCC approved the deal on December 12.^[12] The merger was completed on December 19.^[13] A condition of the deal requires Media General to end the joint sales agreements it has with stations in Youngstown, Ohio, Dayton, Ohio, and Topeka, Kansas, due to tighter scrutiny such deals are getting by the FCC. Media General received a two-year waiver in those markets to end the JSAs.^[14]

On July 14, 2015, Media General pulled its stations off of Mediacom cable systems across the United States due to a carriage dispute over retransmission consent fees.^[15] This carriage dispute saw Media General stations disappear from Mediacom lineups in 14 television markets across the United States and even three of the Fox affiliates owned by Media General were lost to Mediacom subscribers in Hampton Roads, Virginia, Terre Haute, Indiana, and Topeka, Kansas just before the start of the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.^[16] On July 30, 2015, Mediacom and Media General reached a new agreement, thereby restoring Media General owned stations to Mediacom subscribers in the affected areas.^[17]

Acquisition by Nexstar

On September 8, 2015, it was announced that Media General would acquire Meredith Corporation in a cash and stock deal valued at $2.4 billion. Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, the deal was expected to be consummated in June 2016. The combined company was to be known as Meredith Media General, and be the third-largest owner of television stations in the United States—serving an estimated 30% of households. In order to comply with FCC regulations, some stations would have been sold to other companies in six markets where both groups already own stations (Greenville-Spartanburg, Hartford-New Haven, Mobile, Nashville, Portland (OR) and Springfield (MA)). Media General shareholders would have controlled 65% of the company, with Meredith shareholders holding 35%. ^[18]

On September 28, it was revealed that Nexstar Broadcasting Group had made an unsolicited cash-and-stock offer for Media General, valued at $14.50 per-share. Following the announcement, Media General shareholders Oppenheimer Holdings (7% stake) and Starboard Capital (4.5% stake) opposed the Meredith merger in favor of selling to Nexstar. On October 6, 2015, the New York Post speculated that the deal had been called off, believing that the deal was unlikely to receive further shareholder support due to these objections. Both companies have denied that this was the case, and reported that other major shareholders were backing the merger.^[19][20] Media General hired additional firms to evaluate the Nexstar bid.^[21] On November 16, Media General rejected the offer but agreed to negotiate after concluding its merger with Meredith.^[22]

On January 27, 2016, Media General announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Nexstar in a deal valued at $17.14 per-share, valuing the company at $4.6 billion plus the assumption of $2.3 billion debt. The combined company will be known as Nexstar Media Group, and own 171 stations, serving an estimated 39% of households. The company will pay Meredith a termination fee of $60 million, and give Meredith right of first refusal to acquire any broadcast or digital properties that may be divested during the merge. The deal also includes contingent value rights for Media General shareholders if it sells spectrum from its stations during the FCC's spectrum incentive auction.^[23][24]

On July 13, 2016, the FCC issued a $700,000 fine against Media General for using a shared services agreement with WAGT to prevent its new owner Gray Television from divesting it in the spectrum incentive auction.^[25]

Major assets

Current Media General stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.

Notes:

• (**) – Indicates a station built and signed on by Media General.
• (¤¤) – Indicates a station owned by Park Communications prior to its acquisition by Media General in 1997.
• (##) – Indicates a station owned by Spartan Radiocasting prior to its acquisition by Media General in 2000.
• (++) – Indicates a station acquired by Media General from NBC Universal in 2006.
• (Y) – Indicates a station owned by Young Broadcasting prior to its merger with Media General in 2013.
• (§§) – Indicates a station owned by LIN Media prior to its merger with Media General in 2014.

Other Notes:

• ¹ Owned by Vaughan Media, Media General operates the stations through a Shared Services Agreement.
• ² Owned by Shield Media, Media General operates the stations through an SSA.
• ³ Owned by Tamer Media, LLC, Media General operates the stations through an SSA.
• ⁴ Owned by Super Towers, Inc., Media General operates WNAC through a local marketing agreement.

Former Media General stations

Notes:

• ¹ Owned by Schurz Communications, WAGT was operated by Media General under a shared services agreement, with WJBF.

Other assets

• Atlee Park
• Blockdot
• Boxerjam Media
• BiteSizeTV
  • Hollywood Today Live, a daily syndicated entertainment news program distributed by Media General stations, along with Fox Television Stations under a traditional syndication arrangement.
• LIN Digital

Former assets

On May 17, 2012, it was announced that investment company Berkshire Hathaway will be acquiring Media General's newspaper division (excluding The Tampa Tribune); these newspapers will be merged into Berkshire Hathaway's World Media Enterprises division, a sister company of its other newspaper holdings under the Omaha World-Herald.^[27] The deal closed June 25, 2012.^[28] Media General's chairman and former CEO, J. Stewart Bryan III said the company faced a choice: either sell its newspaper division or file for bankruptcy protection. The latter, he said, was "unacceptable." ^[29] At the end of 2011, Media General had $658 million in debt.^[30] In October 2012, The Tampa Tribune and its associated print and digital products were acquired by Tampa Media Group, Inc., a new company formed by Revolution Capital Group.^[31]

Major newspapers

• Richmond Times-Dispatch
• The Tampa Tribune
• Winston-Salem Journal

Community newspapers

Alabama

• Dothan Eagle
• The Enterprise Ledger
• Opelika-Auburn News
• The Eufaula Tribune
• The Corner News

Florida

• (Brooksville) Hernando Today (associated with The Tampa Tribune)
• (Sebring) Highlands Today (associated with The Tampa Tribune)
• Jackson County Floridan (Marianna)
• CENTRO Tampa (Spanish-language weekly)
• (New Port Richey) The Suncoast News (associated with The Tampa Tribune)

North Carolina

• The (Eden) Daily News
• Hickory Daily Record
• (Concord & Kannapolis) Independent Tribune
• The (Marion) McDowell News
• The (Madison) Messenger
• The (Morganton) News Herald
• The Reidsville Review
• Statesville Record & Landmark

South Carolina

• The Morning News (Florence) Daily Newspaper for Florence and the Pee Dee Region
• The News and Post (Lake City)  – Weekly
• The Marion Star (Marion) – Weekly
• The Weekly Observer (Hemingway) – Weekly
• The Hartsville Messenger  – Weekly

Virginia

• Amherst New Era-Progress
• Powhatan Today
• Midlothian Exchange
• Mechanicsville Local
• Goochland Gazette
• Bristol Herald Courier
• Culpeper Star-Exponent
• The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress
• Danville Register & Bee
• Nelson County Times
• The News & Advance (Lynchburg)
• The (Waynesboro) News Virginian
• News & Messenger (Manassas) (defunct)
• Richlands News-Press/Clinch Valley News
• The Richmond News Leader (defunct)
• Smyth News and Messenger (Marion)
• The Wytheville Enterprise
• Washington County News (Abingdon)
• Greene County Record
• Madison County Eagle
• Orange County Review

References

External links

• Official website