 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee |
Area served | United States (Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast) |
Key people |
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| Products | |
| Website | www.standardmedia.com |
Standard Media Group is an American broadcast and digital media company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Standard Media was founded in 2018 by Deborah A. McDermott, who serves as the company's CEO. Previously, McDermott was the chief operating officer of Media General and CEO-president of Young Broadcasting.
Between 2012 and 2017, McDermott and her team led the acquisition of more than 90 television stations and helped grow Young/Media General from a $220 million regional TV group to a nearly $5 billion media company. [1] In 2017, Media General was acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $4.6 billion. [2]
On May 16, 2019, Standard Media announced plans to purchase two ABC-affiliated television stations from Citadel Communications for $83 million. [3] The stations, WLNE-TV in Providence, Rhode Island and KLKN in Lincoln, Nebraska, have been operated by Citadel since 2011 and 1996 respectively. [4] [5] The company announced the acquisition of Waypoint Media and its affiliated companies in November 2019. [6] The Waypoint deal collapsed in January 2021. [7]
In November 2020, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that they would sell Fox affiliate KBSI and MyNetworkTV affiliate WDKA in Paducah, Kentucky, to Community News Media (a subsidiary of Standard Media) for $28 million, in a transaction that closed in 2021. [8]
On February 22, 2022, a partnership of Standard General and Apollo announced their intent to acquire Tegna; Apollo will hold non-voting shares in the company. As part of the sale, Standard General will sell Standard Media to Cox Media Group, which will also acquire Tegna's stations in Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin (including WFAA, KHOU, and KVUE). WFXT in Boston will then be divested to Standard General. [9] [10] [11] The sale was approved by Standard General and Apollo Global Management on May 17, 2022. [12] [13] In February 2023, it was confirmed that the deal would be given a hearing before an administrative law judge, which the FCC Commissioner's Board voted to remand the merger review. [14] The deal was terminated on May 22, 2023. [15] [16]
On June 3, 2024, Standard Media and the Chicago Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox announced the new regional sports network Chicago Sports Network, which is expected to launch in time for the Blackhawks' and Bulls' 2024–25 season. [17] It was later confirmed that the network would launch October 1. [18]
| City of license / Market | Station | Channel TV (RF) | Acquired | Network affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paducah, Kentucky–Harrisburg, Illinois–Cape Girardeau, Missouri | KBSI | 23 (36) | 2021 | Fox |
| WDKA | 49 (25) | 2021 | MyNetworkTV | |
| New Bedford, Massachusetts–Providence, Rhode Island | WLNE-TV | 6 (24) | 2019 | ABC |
| Lincoln, Nebraska | KLKN | 8 (8) | 2019 | ABC |
On September 15, 2024, Chicago Sports Network announced its over-the-air coverage in the Chicago market through a two-channel lease for the main channel and an overflow channel (both in 1080i high definition) through WJYS (channel 62), a station licensed to Hammond, Indiana, with full-market coverage from the Willis Tower. [19] The subchannels for CHSN via WJYS require an ATSC tuner that supports MPEG-4 video codec. [20] Coverage on Gray Television stations in Rockford and South Bend were announced on October 1. [21] Coverage on Family Broadcasting Corporation station WHMB in Indianapolis was announced on October 17. [22] Because the network's coverage area over-the-air outside Illinois will conflict with the rights to other teams, it is likely that alternate blackout programming will be transmitted to those stations (for instance, White Sox baseball would not be seen on CHSN's Milwaukee partner due to conflicts with the Milwaukee Brewers).
| Market | Affiliate | Primary channel | Overflow channel | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago, Illinois (Hammond, Indiana) | WJYS | 62.2 | 62.3 | [19] |
| Rockford, Illinois | WSLN | 19.3 | 19.4 | [21] |
| South Bend, Indiana | WNDU-TV | 16.2 | 16.4 | [21] |
| Des Moines, Iowa | KDMI | 19.3 | — | [19] |
| Angola, Indiana | WINM | 12.2 | — | [19] |
| Fort Wayne, Indiana | WEIJ-LD | 38.2 | — | [19] |
| Cedar Rapids, Iowa | KWKB | 20.5 | — | [19] |
| Sioux City, Iowa | KMEG | 14.5 | — | [19] |
| Paducah, Kentucky | WDKA | 49.7 | — | [23] |
| Milwaukee, Wisconsin | TBA | |||
| Grand Rapids, Michigan | ||||
| Champaign/Springfield, Illinois | ||||
| Peoria, Illinois | ||||
| Quincy, Illinois | ||||
| Indianapolis, Indiana | WHMB-TV | 40.2 | 40.6 | [22] |
WDKA is a television station licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, United States, serving as the MyNetworkTV affiliate for Western Kentucky's Purchase region, Southern Illinois and Southeastern Missouri, and Northwest Tennessee. It is owned by the Community News Media subsidiary of Standard Media alongside Cape Girardeau, Missouri–licensed Fox affiliate KBSI. Both stations share studios on Enterprise Street in Cape Girardeau, while WDKA's transmitter is located in Vienna, Illinois.
WIFR-LD is a low-power television station in Rockford, Illinois, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Gray Television, and maintains studios and transmitter facilities on North Meridian Road in Rockford.
WNDU-TV is a television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Elkhart-licensed Heroes & Icons affiliate WSJV. The two stations share studios on the campus of WNDU-TV's founding owner the University of Notre Dame along State Road 933 on South Bend's north side; WNDU-TV's transmitter is located southeast of the St. Joseph County Fairgrounds on the city's south side.
WJAR is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station has studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston, Rhode Island, and its transmitter is located in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
WLNE-TV is a television station licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Providence, Rhode Island, area. The station is owned by Standard Media, and maintains studios in the Orms Building in downtown Providence; its transmitter is based in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
KTBU is a television station licensed to Conroe, Texas, United States, serving as the Houston area outlet for the digital multicast network Quest. It is owned and operated by Tegna Inc. alongside CBS affiliate KHOU. The two stations share studios on Westheimer Road near Uptown Houston; KTBU's transmitter is located near Missouri City, in unincorporated northeastern Fort Bend County. Previously, KTBU maintained separate facilities on Old Katy Road in the northwest side of Houston, while the KHOU studios only housed KTBU's master control and some internal operations.
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television stations across the U.S., most of which are affiliated with the four "major" U.S. television networks and MyNetworkTV in markets as large as New York City and as small as San Angelo, Texas. It also operates all of the stations owned by affiliated companies, such as Mission Broadcasting and Vaughan Media, under local marketing agreements to satisfy existing regulations set in place by the Federal Communications Commission. In addition, Nexstar owns one radio station, WGN in Chicago, and operates major TV network the CW through a 75-percent majority stake where all CW affiliates are directly owned-and-operated stations (O&O), two terrestrial television networks airing classic shows, Antenna TV and Rewind TV, one FAST streaming channel airing sports programming, SportsGrid, and has full or partial ownership stakes in three pay television networks.
WTHR is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power, Class A MeTV affiliate WALV-CD. The two stations share studios on North Meridian Street in downtown Indianapolis; WTHR's transmitter is located near Ditch Road and West 96th Street in Carmel.
WCTX is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside ABC affiliate WTNH, also licensed to New Haven. WCTX and WTNH share studios on Elm Street in downtown New Haven; per a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WTNH's spectrum from a tower in Hamden, Connecticut.
WSNN-LD is a low-power television station in Sarasota, Florida, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. Owned by Nexstar Media Group as sister to NBC affiliate WFLA-TV and CW owned-and-operated station WTTA, the station's Suncoast News Network (SNN) service provides news coverage focusing primarily on the North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area. SNN operates in conjunction with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and is headquartered in downtown Sarasota. The station's transmitter is located on Fruitville Road east of the city.
Citadel Communications Ltd. was an American private broadcasting company. It was based in Bronxville, New York and most recently owned 1 low-power television station on which it operated a regional 24-hour cable news channel. The company was founded in 1982 by former National Association of Broadcasters joint board chairman and current Broadcasters Foundation of America chairman Phil Lombardo.
KLKN is a television station in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Standard Media, the station maintains studios on 10th Street south of downtown Lincoln and broadcasts from a transmitter located near Utica, Nebraska.
WJYS is an independent television station licensed to Hammond, Indiana, United States, serving the Chicago area. Owned by Millennial Telecommunications, Inc., WJYS maintains studio facilities on South Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park, Illinois, and its transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower.
NBC Sports Chicago was an American regional sports network that broadcast regional coverage of professional sports teams in the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as college sports events and original sports-related news, discussion and entertainment programming. It was branded as part of the NBC Sports Regional Networks. The channel ceased operations on September 30, 2024.
CMG Media Corporation is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company primarily owns radio and television stations—many of which are located in the South, Pacific Northwest, Eastern Midwest, and Northeast, and the regional cable news network Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC).
WGN Sports was the programming division of WGN-TV, an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois, United States—which is owned by the Nexstar Media Group—that was responsible for all sports broadcasts on the station, some of which were previously also broadcast on its former national superstation feed, WGN America.
Tegna Inc. is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies. Tegna comprised the more profitable broadcast television and digital media divisions of the old Gannett, while Gannett's publishing interests were spun off as a "new" company that retained the Gannett name. Tegna owns or operates 68 television stations in 54 markets, and holds properties in digital media.
Standard General L.P. is an American hedge fund headquartered in New York City. It was founded in 2007 by Soohyung "Soo" Kim and Nicholas Singer with seed capital from Reservoir Capital Group. Since 2013, Soo Kim has been the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. In 2016 Standard General L.P. was the recipient of the New York City Comptroller's Office Diverse Practitioner Award. Standard General L. P. is controlled by Standard General Management LLC which is controlled by Acme Amalgamated Holdings, LLC, which is ultimately controlled by Mr. Soohyung Kim.
WPBY-LD is a low-power television station in Lafayette, Indiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC alongside dual Fox/NBC affiliate WPBI-LD. Both stations share studios on South 18th Street in Lafayette, while WPBY-LD's transmitter is located on McCarty Lane on the city's east side.
Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) is an American regional sports network owned by Standard Media, the Wirtz Corporation, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago Bulls and White Sox franchises. It launched after the teams' contracts with NBC Sports Chicago expired on October 1, 2024.
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