 | |
| Ion Media | |
| Formerly |
|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | |
| Founded | 1988; 37 years ago (1988) |
| Founder | Bud Paxson |
| Defunct | January 7, 2021; 4 years ago (2021-01-07) (as independent company) |
| Fate | Acquired by theE. W. Scripps Company and spun off intoScripps Networks |
| Successors | Scripps Networks Inyo Broadcast Holdings |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Lisa Knutson (president; Scripps Networks) |
| Products |
|
| Brands |
|
| Revenue | US$415 million (2014) |
| Owner | E. W. Scripps Company |
Number of employees | 425 (2020) |
| Parent | Scripps Networks |
| Website | ionmedia.com (archived March 2017) |
| Footnotes / references [1][2][3] | |
Ion Media, LLC (formerly known asPaxson Communications Corporation andIon Media Networks) is a subsidiary of theE. W. Scripps Company that operates the linear broadcast networksIon Television,Ion Mystery, andIon Plus. Prior to its acquisition by Scripps, the company owned and operated over71 television stations in most major American markets (through its television stations group, Ion Media Television), and also operatedQubo and Ion Shop. After being operated as a private company since it entered and emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, it was acquired by the E. W. Scripps Company and merged with its Katz Broadcasting subsidiary on January 7, 2021, creating the newScripps Networks division to manage those assets separately from its traditional broadcast network-affiliated television stations.
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The company was founded in 1988 byBud Paxson inFlorida. The company purchased radio stations and a couple of television stations, eventually becoming Florida's largest radio group. The radio stations' formats includedrock,contemporary hit radio, news andtalk, andadult contemporary. The television stations were network affiliates ofABC andNBC. In 1993 the company began to purchase stations on the outer fringes of large television markets.[citation needed]
In 1994, Paxson acquired its first television station, ABC affiliateWPBF inWest Palm Beach, Florida.[4]
The company divested itself of both the radio group and major-network affiliated television stations in 1998, focusing on building its own independent TV network, "PAX TV". The company focused on acquiring UHF television stations. Some of these stations are out-of-market stations, such asWPXD inAnn Arbor, Michigan (45 miles (72 km) from Detroit), KXLI inSt. Cloud, Minnesota (60 miles (97 km) from Minneapolis), WTLK inRome, Georgia (45 miles (72 km) from Atlanta),WPXJ inPavilion, New York (45 miles (72 km) from bothBuffalo andRochester, New York), and WAYK inMelbourne, Florida (60 miles (97 km) fromOrlando). Still in some markets the company bought low-rated stations that had the same type of signals as established stations with medium to high ratings. These stations included WCFC inChicago (religious), WTGI inWilmington, Delaware (brokered), WAKC inAkron, Ohio (Cleveland's secondary ABC affiliate), and channel 35 inMiami (Shopping), among others. In the fall of 1997, a tentative lineup was announced, and it included a family entertainment lineup of drama shows, movies, first-run shows, wildlife shows, sitcoms, and talk shows. The most expensive station acquisition was WBIS in New York City. The city government had sold this station toDow Jones & Company andITT in 1996 for nearly US$200 million. In January 1997,Dow Jones launched a business format called S+ during the day and asports channel after 7 pm and on weekends. Dow Jones/ITT lost money on the operation, sold the station for about $225 million in May 1997, and shut down S+ that June in favor ofBloomberg Business News,Fox Sports Net and a block previewing new networks, IntroTV. Channel 31 was renamed WPXN with plans to be the flagship station of PAX TV in the fall of 1998.[citation needed]
InPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the company wanted to buyWPCB, channel 40, fromCornerstone Television, and move the license to channel 16 (which was, and still is, occupied byWINP-TV), with channel 40 used for educational purposes. The two agreed on a purchase price, but theFederal Communications Commission had too many questions about the deal, most relating to the type of broadcast license to be operated on each channel, and it fell through.[citation needed]
The PAX network was launched in 1998 with family dramas such asLife Goes On,Our House,Touched by an Angel,Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,Highway to Heaven, andBonanza, a game show titledThe Reel to Reel Picture Show, sitcomsDave's World,Here's Lucy andThe Hogan Family, and some movies. The network ran weekdays from noon until 1 am.[5] Due to low ratings and mounting financial costs, PAX TV soon reduced its hours. In 1999, they were reduced to between 3 pm and midnight, and in 2002, they were reduced again to 6 pm to midnight.[citation needed]
In September 1999,NBC bought a 32% stake in Paxson.[6] On December 4, 2001, it was announced that Paxson had filed with the FCC an arbitration to block NBC's acquisition ofTelemundo.[7] In September 2002, it was announced that Paxson's arbitration against NBC was denied.[8] On November 13, NBC requested a redemption of its investment in Paxson of $549.2 million.[9][10] In August 2004,NBC Universal filed a lawsuit against Paxson.[11] On November 7, 2005, to settle several lawsuits between the company and NBC Universal, Lowell Paxson granted NBCU an 18-month transferable option to purchase his shares of the company in an agreement which, if activated, would also trigger a sale of the rest of the company. If Mr. Paxson's shares of the company weren't sold in the option window, the company was obligated to buy them back from Mr. Paxson. Concurrent with this deal, Mr. Paxson left the company, and was succeeded by R. Brandon Burgess in the role of President and CEO.[12][13]
In early 2006, the company adopted its current name.[14][15]
A few months later, Ion launched a new,children's brand along with NBC Universal (along its now-defunct subsidiary Classic Media), book company Scholastic and Canada-based Corus to plan a weekday afternoon block and a 24/7 channel in January.
In May 2007, Ion, NBC Universal, andCitadel LLC reached an agreement for the recapitalization of Ion. Citadel acquired the public common stock of the company, as part of the plan to take the company private. In addition, Citadel invested $100 million of new capital into the company to further support management's plan to revitalize the TV network.[16][17]
In November 2007, Ion Media Networks was taken to trial, having been sued in Federal Court by Positive Ions, Inc for trademark infringement of the use of the wordIon,[18] resulting in a $1.7 million settlement awarded to Positive Ions, Inc.[19]
In 2008, Ion Media Networks andComcast reached an agreement to not only continue to carryIon Television, but also introduced two new digital networksQubo (its block launched two years later) andIon Life.[20] By January 2009, Ion had another subchannel network, Urban TV, in the works withBET founderRobert L. Johnson targeted to African-Americans.[21]
In April 2009, it was announced that Ion Media Networks was once again facing balance sheet problems. The company disclosed that it was in discussions with lenders on "a comprehensive recapitalization" of its balance sheet. That translates to an effort to restructure its considerable debt, which stands at $2.7 billion as of April 2009, according toThe Wall Street Journal.
On May 19, 2009, Ion Media Networks filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection, putting the Ion network under bankruptcy for the second time, saying it had reached an agreement with holders of 60% of its first lien secured debt that would extinguish all of its $2.7 billion in legacy debt and preferred stock and recapitalize the company with a $150 million new funding commitment.[22] It emerged from bankruptcy in December, under the ownership of its bondholders & secured lenders/first lien holders, wiping out Citadel's ownership.[23]
In late 2009, a trio of private equity companies (Black Diamond Capital Management, Avenue Capital Group, & Trilogy Capital) purchased a 62.5% controlling stake in Ion Media Networks from the Ion Media Liquidating Trust (the legal entity selling the stake) through their partnership, Media Holdco L.P. (43.7% owned by Black Diamond via its BD Ion Media GP Holdings subsidiary; 15.8% by Trilogy via its Trilogy Ion, LLC subsidiary; & 40.5% by Avenue via its Avenue Ion Holdings LP subsidiary). The remaining 37.5% of Ion Media Networks remained with the company's senior investors from previous rounds of financing.[24][25][26]
Ion Media Networks signed carriage agreements in May 2010 withAdvanced Cable Communications andComcast Colorado Springs for Qubo and Ion Life and with Blue Ridge Cable for Qubo.[27]
By 2012, Media Holdco's stake in Ion Media Networks was at 87%,[28] with the company's senior investors from previous rounds of financing holding 13%.
Sometime in 2013, Ion Media Networks signed a deal withLiberty Media to bring theQVC andHSN networks to most of its Ion Television O&O stations throughout nationwide on digital subchannels X.5 and X.6.
In December 2013, theUnited States bankruptcy court approved a plan by creditors ofRoberts Broadcasting to transferEast St. Louis-basedWRBU and its sister stations,WZRB inColumbia andWAZE-LP inEvansville, Indiana, to a trust with Ion Media Networks (a creditor in Roberts'chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, which it filed for in 2011) as its beneficiary, with Roberts' attorney subsequently stating that Ion Media Networks would purchase the three stations.[29][30] The deal is complete on February 10, 2014, and both WZRB and WRBU became Ion stations.
Also in December 2013, Black Diamond purchased Avenue & Trilogy's stakes in Media Holdco, placing Black Diamond as Media Holdco's sole shareholder.[31]
As of November 2014, Media Holdco's majority equity stake in Ion Media Networks is at 85%,[3] leaving the company's senior investors from previous rounds of financing with a minority stake of 15%.
On April 20, 2017, Ion Media Networks, through its website, announced a name change to "Ion Media" (with the company still legally operating as "Ion Media Networks").[32]
On August 2, 2017, it was reported that21st Century Fox was proposing that Ion Media contribute its stations into a joint venture with itsFox Television Stations division, to create a larger station group in an effort to counterSinclair Broadcast Group and their proposed purchase ofTribune Media. The proposal also included the possibility for as many as 26 stations owned by Sinclair or Tribune to be switched from Fox after existing affiliation contracts expire. It has been argued that this deal was intended to place pressure on Sinclair to abandon its acquisition, lest it potentially lose Fox affiliations to the venture.[33][34]
An analyst felt the proposed partnership was hampered by Ion Media's decision to assertmust-carry status over its stations rather thanretransmission consent, as Fox would be unable to immediately benefit financially from the partnership'sscale, which would have included being able to collect carriage payments for all of the stations. The analyst added that Ion stations alone did not have enough leverage to negotiate with television providers, because of their limited local or first-run programming.[35][36][37]
On September 24, 2020, Ion Media agreed to be acquired by TheE. W. Scripps Company for $2.65 billion, withBerkshire Hathaway making an investment in Scripps to help finance the purchase.[38] The transaction, which is projected to close in the first quarter of 2021 and is subject toFCC approval, would see Ion Media and its networks combined with Scripps'Katz Broadcasting subsidiary, which already operates fivespecialty networks, most notablyBounce TV andCourt TV. Scripps would also sell 23 of Ion Media's 71 television stations to comply with national ownership caps; the buyer, revealed in an October 2020 FCC filing to beInyo Broadcast Holdings, has promised to maintain the stations'Ion Television affiliations after the purchase.[39][40][41] However, the number of stations to be sold increased according to a Public Applications Report from the FCC on October 16, 2020, and although unconfirmed, it is possible that Scripps could still operates at least some of these stations. Whether or not that pans out remains to be seen.[42] As of October 17, 2020,[update] 27 stations are likely up for sale; however, three of those stations inPhiladelphia,San Francisco andMinneapolis are predicated and contingent upon whether Scripps can complete its sale of New York City'sWPIX toMission Broadcasting (to be operated byNexstar Media Group) in time before these transactions are finalized.[41] If WPIX was sold before these transactions, then those stations will be retained. On October 20, broadcast industry websiteTV News Check confirmed the pending sales in a "station roundup" report outlining the stations slated to be sold, and the number being reduced to 26 again.[43]
That number, again, is cut down to 23, after Scripps was able to complete its sale of WPIX to Mission Broadcasting on December 30, 2020. As such, Scripps would keep its Ion stations in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Minneapolis.[44][45]
The transaction, which closed on January 7, 2021,[46] saw Ion Television, Ion Plus, Qubo, and Ion Shop integrated into Scripps'Katz Broadcasting subsidiary (operator of fellow multicast networksCourt TV,Ion Mystery,Bounce TV,Laff andGrit).[47]
On January 14, 2021, Scripps announced that it would discontinue Qubo and Ion Shop effective February 28, 2021, with Ion Plus transitioning to aFAST service. The spectrum allocated to the networks on the former Ion Media stations will be repurposed to carry the Katz-owned networks starting March 1, with the initial slate of Ion Television O&Os adding those networks following the expiration of Scripps/Katz's existing contracts with other broadcasting companies the day prior, and other stations following suit as contracts with existing affiliates expire throughout 2021 and 2022; in markets where major network affiliates operated by Scripps already carry a Katz-owned network, some will be offloaded to the Ion stations to free up limited spectrum capacity during theATSC 3.0 transition. Several of the Ion Plus full-power stations paired with Ion Television stations were also concurrently sold off to Inyo Broadcast Holdings in order to alleviate local ownership conflicts and national cap issues related to Scripps' purchase of Ion Media under the FCC's regulatory station ownership limits.[48]
In October 2021, Scripps notified theFederal Communications Commission that it had closed the local facilities of the Ion Media stations (with those in duopoly markets having their operations consolidated with the existing Scripps commercial station), and consolidated the regulatory 'studios' for all of the stations atScripps Center inCincinnati. The FCC had repealed the Main Studio Rule in 2019 requiring a facility for each station in their local market, and for all intents and purposes, the studios were alloffice suites with almost no broadcast equipment containing mainly the station'spublic file with a minimum staff of one engineer and onegeneral manager (both often regional and maintaining multiple Ion stations) merely maintaining the network's transmitters. The network's operations remain based out of West Palm Beach.[49]
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