Renaissance Communications

Last updated
Renaissance Communications
Company type Public
Industry Broadcasting, Television
Founded1988;37 years ago (1988)
Defunct1997;28 years ago (1997)
FateAcquired by Tribune Broadcasting
Successor
Headquarters Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
Key people
Michael Finkelstein

Renaissance Communications Corporation was an American owner of television stations. A venture of Michael Finkelstein and Warburg Pincus headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, it specialized in major- and mid-major market independent stations, primarily airing Fox and WB affiliates. The company sold to Tribune Broadcasting in a deal announced in 1996 and closed in 1997.

Contents

History

In 1981, Michael Finkelstein, a former Federal Communications Commission attorney and communications lawyer, bought WATR-TV in Waterbury, Connecticut. He retooled it from an NBC affiliate to an independent station. In 1983, Finkelstein joined Odyssey Partners, a New York City–based investment practice, as CEO of its TV stations. The firm acquired WDZL in Miami the next year. [1]

Finkelstein founded Renaissance Communications in 1988 with the backing of Warburg Pincus. The firm acquired KTXL in Sacramento, California, and WPGH-TV in Pittsburgh for a total of $88 million. [1] Renaissance also acquired WDZL and WTXX from Odyssey; [2] in 1990, it bought WPMT in York, Pennsylvania, and the next year, it sold WPGH-TV. [3] Between 1991 and 1992, it attempted to become a publicly traded company twice but failed. [4]

Renaissance acquired four of the five stations owned by Chase Broadcasting in a deal announced in September 1992. [5] This brought KDVR in Denver; WXIN in Indianapolis; WATL in Atlanta; and WTIC-TV in Hartford, Connecticut, into the Renaissance fold. [5] Renaissance could not own both WTXX and WTIC-TV. To comply with prevailing FCC regulations, Renaissance sold WTXX to a Roman Catholic non-profit group, Counterpoint Communications; both deals were completed in March 1993. [6] Some syndicated programs from WTXX moved to WTIC-TV. [7] While Renaissance tried to negotiate a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Counterpoint in which it would buy WTXX's entire broadcast day, Counterpoint wanted only a part-time arrangement, and negotiations fell through; eventually, WTXX entered into a part-time LMA with NBC affiliate WVIT (channel 30). [8]

Renaissance immediately sold WATL to Fox Television Stations. [4] The next year, Renaissance did business with Fox Television Stations again when it agreed to trade KDVR to Fox for KDAF in Dallas. Fox was selling KDAF because it was moving its programming to the previous CBS affiliate, KDFW, as a result of a ten-station affiliation deal with New World Communications. [9] [10] The FCC approved the transaction in July 1995. [11] At the same time, two new national networks, UPN and The WB, launched. Renaissance initially committed WDZL to The WB only to switch to UPN, a move that surprised observers because Finkelstein had previously been a public supporter of The WB. [12] One reason was that it was rumored that Chris-Craft Industries would buy WBFS-TV, a competing Miami station. Renaissance later was forced to reverse course and switch back to The WB when Paramount Stations Group acquired WBFS instead. [13] Also in 1994, Renaissance went public. [14]

On June 30, 1995, Renaissance announced it had agreed to purchase Outlet Communications, which owned two NBC affiliates (WCMH and WJAR) and a third station committed to switching to NBC (WNCN), in a $360 million merger. [15] NBC moved to outbid Renaissance with a $402 million offer and was sued by Renaissance, which claimed "unlawful interference". NBC claimed that Outlet's directors could still consider higher offers in the interest of shareholders; [16] a judge refused to block the NBC bid, [17] which Outlet then accepted. Renaissance received a breakup fee. [18] Renaissance also lost out in its proposal to merge with River City Broadcasting. [14]

Feeling that there were few valuable assets left to buy in a rapidly consolidating market, [14] Finkelstein agreed to sell Renaissance to Tribune Broadcasting for $1.13 billion in a deal announced on July 1, 1996. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] The FCC approved the transaction in March 1997 but, per newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership limits, ordered Tribune to sell one of WDZL or the South Florida Sun-Sentinel . [24] The deal closed that same month. [25]

Former stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license. Ownership of stations by Odyssey Partners is not included.

Stations owned by Renaissance Communications
Media market StateStationPurchasedSold
Sacramento California KTXL 19871997
Denver Colorado KDVR 19931995
Hartford Connecticut WTXX 19881993
WTIC-TV 19931997
Miami–Fort Lauderdale Florida WDZL 19821997
Atlanta Georgia WATL 19931993
Indianapolis Indiana WXIN 19931997
Harrisburg Pennsylvania WPMT 19901997
Pittsburgh WPGH-TV 19871991
Dallas–Fort Worth Texas KDAF 19951997

References

  1. 1 2 "Michael Finkelstein: Independent thinker". Broadcasting. February 26, 1990. p. 71. ProQuest   1014743462.
  2. ↑ Weiskind, Ron (August 27, 1988). "Lorimar to sell WPGH". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 21. Archived from the original on April 18, 2024. Retrieved April 18, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ Foisie, Geoffrey (July 15, 1991). "Renaissance proposes $40 million stock offering". Broadcasting. p. 35. ProQuest   1014740715.
  4. 1 2 "Atlanta's WATL to Fox group". The Hollywood Reporter. February 2, 1993. pp. 4, 78. ProQuest   2362046748.
  5. 1 2 Williams, Stephen M.; Lender, Jon (September 5, 1992). "Chase agrees to sell WTIC-TV to rival". Hartford Courant . Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  6. ↑ Lender, Jon (March 19, 1993). "Sale of TV Stations Completed". Hartford Courant . Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  7. ↑ Lender, Jon (January 12, 1993). "Proposed WTIC sale gains FCC approval". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. p. B1. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Lender, Jon (June 11, 1993). "WVIT leases time on WTXX as WTIC protests". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. p. C11. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Parent Firm Of WTIC-TV To Buy, Sell". The Hartford Courant . November 16, 1994. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
  10. ↑ Zier, Julie A. (November 21, 1994). "Fox, Renaissance trade markets" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. ProQuest   225342873. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2018– via World Radio History.
  11. ↑ Miles, Laureen (July 10, 1995). "FCC approves 3 Fox deals". Mediaweek. Gale   A17226532.
  12. ↑ de Moraes, Lisa (December 13, 1993). "Par Net hijacks WB affiliate". The Hollywood Reporter. pp. 4, 27. ProQuest   2362010879.
  13. ↑ Benson, Jim; Flint, Joe (October 17, 1994). "Combined nearly Par's". Variety. p. 192. ProQuest   1286145235.
  14. 1 2 3 Rathbun, Elizabeth A. (July 8, 1996). "Reflections of the Renaissance man". Broadcasting & Cable. ProQuest   225359488.
  15. ↑ McClellan, Steve (July 3, 1995). "Renaissance buying Outlet". Broadcasting. p. 8. ProQuest   1014768371.
  16. ↑ Brennan, Steve (August 1, 1995). "NBC ups the ante for Outlet". The Hollywood Reporter. pp. 1, 65–66. ProQuest   2469273985.
  17. ↑ Brennan, Steve (August 2, 1995). "Renaissance fails to foil NBC". The Hollywood Reporter. pp. 1–2. ProQuest   2469273990.
  18. ↑ McClellan, Steve (August 7, 1995). "Outlet sells for $396 million to NBC". Broadcasting & Cable. p. 64. ProQuest   1014758505.
  19. ↑ Peterson, Iver (July 2, 1996). "Tribune to Pay $1.1 Billion For Six Television Stations" . The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  20. ↑ Rathbun, Elizabeth A. (July 8, 1996). "Tribune's Renaissance: $1.13-billion purchase of six more TVs brings broadcaster into one-third of U.S. homes" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable . pp. 4, 8, 9. ProQuest   225355958. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Tribune to buy Renaissance". UPI. July 1, 1996. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  22. ↑ "Tribune Co. To Buy Renaissance For $1.13 Billion". Los Angeles Times . July 2, 1996. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  23. ↑ "Business Diary; Tribune Co. Fine-Tunes Its Growth with $1-Bil. TV Buy". Crain's Chicago Business . July 6, 1996. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  24. ↑ "FCC tells Tribune: Make a choice: Media giant must sell Channel 39 or Sun-Sentinel". The Miami Herald. Miami, Florida. March 22, 1997. p. 1C. Retrieved July 28, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "Tribune completes Renaissance buy". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. March 26, 1997. p. 3:1. Retrieved July 28, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
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