Standard Media Group LLC
Company typePrivate
Industry
Founded2018
HeadquartersNashville, Tennessee
Area served
 United States (Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast)
Key people
Products
Websitewww.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.

History

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 toward on May 22.[14] The deal was terminated on May 22, 2023.[15][16]

Stations

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

References

  1. ^ Staff Writer. "Nashville company to acquire two TV stations". NashvillePost.com. Nashville Post. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  2. ^ Lieberman, David (17 January 2017). "Nexstar Completes $4.6B Acquisition Of Media General". Dateline.com. Dateline Hollywood. Retrieved 17 Jan 2017.
  3. ^ Jessell, Harry (16 May 2019). "McDermott In The Station Game With WLNE, KLKN". TVNewscheck.com. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Citadel Communications Named New Owner of ABC6 News". abc6.com. WLNE-TV. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  5. ^ "Memorandum Opinion and Order". FCC.gov. FCC. December 1986. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  6. ^ Lafayette, Jon (November 25, 2019). "Standard Media Group Buys Waypoint, Vision Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  7. ^ Notice of Non-Consummation, January 4, 2021
  8. ^ Jacobson, Adam (2021-01-20). "FCC OK's Sinclair Duo's Spin To Soo Kim". Radio & Television Business Report. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  9. ^ Szalai, Alex Weprin,Georg; Weprin, Alex; Szalai, Georg (2022-02-22). "Local TV Giant TEGNA Sold to Private Equity Firms in Mega-Deal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2022-02-22.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "WFAA and Houston, Austin TV stations expected to go to Cox Media in Tegna's $5.4 billion sale". Dallas News. 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  11. ^ "Radio Implications To Today's Standard General Acquisition of TEGNA". RadioInsight. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  12. ^ Goldsmith, Jill (May 17, 2022). "Tegna Shareholders Approve Sale Of Broadcaster To Standard General, Apollo Global". Deadline Hollywood.
  13. ^ "FCC Wants More Info Before It Decides Fate Of Tegna-Cox-Standard Deal". Inside Radio. June 6, 2022. Archived from the original on August 28, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  14. ^ Johnson, Ted (February 27, 2023). "Standard General Blasts FCC Decision On Tegna Merger, Calls For Full Commission Vote". Deadline Hollywood.
  15. ^ "Standard General's Tegna Takeover Doomed After Money Dries Up". Bloomberg.com. 2023-05-22. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  16. ^ Lafayette, Jon (2023-04-16). "Standard General Files Brief Asking Court To Force FCC To Rule on Tegna Deal". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2023-04-20.

External links

Cox Media Group
Tegna Inc.
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