LIN Media was an Americanholding company founded in 1994^[1] that operated 43 television stations. All except one wereaffiliates of thesix major U.S. television networks. One of the remaining stations was a low-powered weather station in Indiana.

LIN Media, LLC

Company type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: LIN
Industry	Broadcast television Television production
Predecessor	LIN Broadcasting LIN TV Corporation New Vision Television
Founded	1994; 31 years ago (1994)[1]
Defunct	December 19, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-12-19)
Fate	Merged withMedia General
Successor	Media General Nexstar Media Group
Headquarters	Providence, Rhode Island Austin, Texas
Area served	United States (Nationwide)
Key people	Vincent L. Sadusky(CEO)
Products	Broadcast television
Revenue	$443.5 million USD
Operating income	$247.44 million USD
Net income	$274.5 million USD
Owner	HM Capital Partners (70%)[2]
Number of employees	2,414 (full-time)
Subsidiaries	LIN Digital Station Venture Holdings (20.38%)

LIN Media's chief executive officer was Vincent L. Sadusky. Sadusky had been LIN's chief financial officer, Vice President and treasurer since 2004, and had been CFO forTelemundo, working closely on its sale toGE/NBC. Sadusky had been interim CEO since former chairman Gary R. Chapman announced his impending retirement in June 2006, and through the company's search for a permanent replacement. He was installed as CEO upon Chapman's retirement on July 10, 2006.^[3]

LIN TV's roots trace back to the founding of its former parent, LIN Broadcasting Corporation, in 1961. LIN Broadcasting was engaged in radio, television,direct marketing, information and learning, music publishing, and record labels. LIN takes its initials from three major cities:Louisville,Indianapolis andNashville. The company was based in Nashville, where it ownedWMAK. It purchasedWAKY in Louisville and attempted to purchase a station in Indianapolis but failed to do so.^[4] The company purchased its first television station, WTVP (nowWAND) inDecatur, Illinois, at the end of 1965. It also briefly owned the catalogues ofKing Records andStarday Records in the early 1970s.

LIN Broadcasting made acquisitions in broadcasting, expanded intopaging, and in the early 1980s the company entered the fledglingcellular telephone business. By 1983 the company owned seven television stations and by 1985 it owned and managed cellular telephone licenses servingDallas,Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, andPhiladelphia. LIN Broadcasting sold its paging operations and six of its radio stations in 1986 to help finance the development of its cellular business.

In March 1990,McCaw Cellular Communications purchased a 52% interest in LIN Broadcasting. McCaw was acquired byAT&T in 1994, after which LIN Broadcasting's television operations were spun off as a public company traded on theNASDAQ stock market and 45%-owned by AT&T. The new company,LIN Television Corporation, owned and/or operated 12 stations and its stock price increased at a compounded annual growth rate of 31% between 1994 and 1998. During this period LIN acquiredWIVB-TV inBuffalo, New York, andWTNH inNew Haven, Connecticut.^[5]

In March 1998, LIN TV was acquired byHicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, a leading private investment firm based in Dallas, Texas. At the time of the HMTF acquisition, LIN contributed its DallasNBC affiliate,KXAS-TV, to a joint venture with the network that also held theSan Diego affiliate (KNSD).^[6] Under HMTFs ownership, LIN Television has grown considerably through a wide range of transactions:

In June 1999, LIN TV acquiredWOOD-TV inGrand Rapids, Michigan. Former parent LIN Broadcasting had owned the station from 1983 to 1994, when it merged with AT&T. However, LIN TV had continued to operate it.

In August 1999, LIN TV helped finance the establishment of the now-defunct Banks Broadcasting, a minority-owned television broadcast company in which it held a 50% interest. Banks owned two stations: KWCV (nowKSCW-DT) inWichita, Kansas, andKNIN-TV inBoise, Idaho.

LIN TV purchasedWAPA-TV in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in October. In April 2000, LIN TV acquiredWLFI-TV inLafayette, Indiana, in exchange for 66% of WAND. LIN continued to provide management oversight for WAND.

LIN TV purchasedWWLP inSpringfield, Massachusetts, in 2000. In 2001, LIN TV acquiredWJPX and two satellite facilities in Puerto Rico, and the secondary commercial license of PBS member station WNEQ in Buffalo from theWestern New York Public Broadcasting Association, re-launching it as commercial stationWNLO.

The company exercised and closed on options to purchaseWOTV inBattle Creek, Michigan, andWVBT inNorfolk, Virginia, both stations that it had already managed, in January 2002.

In February, LIN TV agreed to acquire seven stations in six markets fromSunrise Television. The transaction of the stations was completed in May. Also in May, LIN TV completed the issuance of 19.55 million shares of Class A Common Stock through itsinitial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

In December 2002, LIN TV announced the sale of two television stations inAbilene andSan Angelo, Texas. This was followed in January 2004 by the sale of a station inFlint, Michigan.

In 2004, LIN TV announced that they signed a deal with NBC to switch itsDayton stationWDTN, along with LIN-operated WAND, fromABC to NBC.^[7] In both markets,Sinclair Broadcast Group owned the previous NBC affiliates, which signed with ABC.^[8]

In February 2005, LIN TV announced purchase of twoUPN stations fromViacom:WWHO inColumbus, Ohio, andWNDY-TV in Indianapolis.^[9] In late August 2005, LIN TV purchased several stations fromEmmis Communications:WALA-TV and WBPG (nowWFNA) inMobile, Alabama,WTHI-TV inTerre Haute, Indiana,KRQE inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, andWLUK-TV inGreen Bay, Wisconsin. In July 2006, LIN announced the planned purchase of a second station in New Mexico,KASA-TV, fromRaycom Media.

In May 2006, LIN TV announced the sale of Puerto Rico stations WAPA-TV and WJPX toInterMedia Partners for $130 million.^[10]

In November 2007, LIN TV completed the sale of its share of WAND toBlock Communications. With this sale, LIN TV no longer manages the station.

On October 3, 2008, LIN TV's stations were dropped fromTime Warner Cable, due to a dispute over "retransmission fees".^[11] LIN's stations returned to Time Warner on October 29, 2008.^[12]

Also during fall 2008, LIN TV andFox Interactive Media developed a new Web CMS platform which would initially host the Web sites of all of the stations owned by LIN TV and those owned byFox Television Stations. This division would be spun off in 2009 as the independent company Canvas Technology, which would change its name to EndPlay in 2010. With Fox Television Stations abandoning the EndPlay platform in favor ofWorldNow during 2012, LIN TV became EndPlay's largest client, followed by theE. W. Scripps Company (which adopted the EndPlay platform during 2010).

On August 7, 2009, LIN TV introducedmobile TVBlackBerry service on six of its stations, with plans for 27 more stations to be added. The strategy accompanied a 20 percent second-quarter revenue decline; at the same time, digital revenue rose 52 percent.^[13]

On October 6, 2009, LIN TV acquired RM Media, an online advertising and media services startup based in Austin. RM Media connected targeted audiences with advertisers and publishers based on demographic, psychographic and consumer behaviors to enhance branding and maximize client return on investment. RM Media developed extensive proprietary technology including a consumer- and advertiser-friendly video player, a top 35 comScore display ad network, a highly effectiveSearch Engine Optimization andSearch Engine Marketing process, and acquired and integrated two companies that specialize in web development and lead generation, launched two top 100 comScore proprietary websites and services severalFortune 500 clients.^[14]

A rebranding to LIN Media was announced on April 13, 2010; although the corporate name remained LIN TV Corporation, the new name emphasized the company's Internet and mobile interests.^[15]

On June 4, 2010, LIN TV reached a deal withACME Communications on ashared services agreement involving ACME and LIN-owned stations in the Green Bay, Dayton, and Albuquerque markets. LIN TV would then provide technical, engineering, promotional, administrative and other operational support services for ACME'sCW stations, as well as provide advertising sales services under a related but separate joint sales agreement.^[16] This was followed on September 2 by the announcement that LIN would be acquiring two of the ACME stations,WBDT in Dayton, Ohio, and WIWB in Green Bay, Wisconsin. WIWB, which has since taken the new callsWCWF, would become owned by LIN outright while WBDT would be technically owned byVaughan Media but controlled by LIN who would hold an ownership stake in that company. The FCC approved the sales of WBDT and WCWF in April 2011.^[17]

On March 4, 2011, LIN TV's contract withDish Network expired, and all 31 LIN TV affiliated stations were pulled from local Dish Network broadcasts. LIN TV initially demanded a price increase of 140% from Dish Network, a number that skyrocketed to 175% after the contract expired. The channels returned to Dish Network on March 13, 2011.^[18] In 2011, LIN sold WWHO to Manhan Media, who entered into an SSA with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners ofWSYX and operators ofWTTE; the deal was finalized in February 2012.^[19]

On May 7, 2012, LIN TV announced that it would acquire the 13 television stations owned byNew Vision Television for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt. The agreement included operational control of three stations currently owned by PBC Broadcasting involved in shared service agreements with New Vision-owned stations in three markets. The three PBC-owned stations (KTKA-TV inTopeka, Kansas,^[20]WTGS inSavannah, Georgia,^[21] andWYTV inYoungstown, Ohio^[22]) were sold to Vaughan Media, but were operated by LIN TV under shared service agreements.^[23] The transaction was finalized on October 12.^[24][25]

On February 13, 2013, LIN TV announced that it would be re-organized into a new company,LIN Media, LLC. Also on that date, LIN pulled out of its Station Venture Operations joint venture withNBCUniversal, giving NBC 100% ownership of KNSD and KXAS-TV. LIN paid NBC around $100 million to allow for the transaction.^[26] The re-organization was completed on July 30.^[27]

On March 21, 2014, LIN announced that it would sell itself toMedia General, in a transaction described as a "merger". The deal, worth an estimated $1.6 billion, would create an entity of 71 stations (adjusted for side deals and divestitures) that would reach approximately 24% of U.S. television households. In order to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit futurejoint sales agreements, Media General and LIN divested and swapped stations that both companies own inBirmingham, Green Bay, Mobile,Providence and Savannah.^[28][29][30] The companies swapped WTGS,WJAR, WLUK-TV and WCWF toSinclair Broadcast Group in exchange forKXRM-TV,KXTU-LD, andWTTA.Hearst Television acquiredWJCL andWVTM-TV, andMeredith Corporation acquired WALA-TV (Meredith later merged withGray Television).^[31]

The deal was approved by shareholders on October 6, 2014,^[32] and by the FCC on December 12, 2014.^[33] The merger was completed on December 19.^[34] Although the combined company adopted the Media General name, the company was taken over by the principal staff of LIN, including CEO Vincent Sadusky, who replaced Media General's CEO George Mahoney post-merger. In total, 45 Media General staff members were laid off as part of the merger.^[35]

On January 11, 2017, the FCC approved the sale of Media General toNexstar Broadcasting Group;^[36] the sale was completed on January 17.^[37]

• Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state andcity of license.
• Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicate a station built and signed on by LIN Media.

• Business data for LIN Media LLC:
  • SEC filings