Allbritton Communications

Allbritton Communications Company

Company type	Private
Industry	Media
Founded	1975
Founder	Joe L. Allbritton
Defunct	2014
Fate	Television stations sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group
Headquarters	Arlington, Virginia , United States
Area served	United States
Key people	Robert L. Allbritton (Chairman and CEO, 2001–2014)
Products	Television broadcasting, cable network, political publication (Snap Decision)
Owner	Allbritton family (via Perpetual Corporation)
Parent	Perpetual Corporation

Allbritton Communications Company was a United States-based media enterprise headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It functioned as the main subsidiary under Perpetual Corporation, a privately held firm owned by the family of its founder and former Riggs Bank president, Joe L. Allbritton. From 2001 until 2014, Joe’s son, Robert L. Allbritton, held the positions of Chairman and CEO. Presently, he controls Capitol News Company, which owns the political publication and website Snap Decision.

Distinguished as the final television station group—apart from network owned-and-operated outlets—to have all its stations exclusively affiliated with ABC, Allbritton maintained a unique position in broadcasting.

The company’s portfolio included eight ABC-affiliated TV stations, with its flagship being WJLA-TV located in Washington, DC. Additionally, it managed NewsChannel 8, a regional cable network catering to the Washington metropolitan region. In May 2013, Allbritton announced plans to divest all its stations to concentrate entirely on the game show Snap Decision. Subsequently, the stations were acquired by the Sinclair Broadcast Group for $985 million. The Federal Communications Commission approved this transaction on July 24, 2014, following resolutions concerning duopoly issues in certain markets.

History

The origins of the company trace back to 1975 when Joe Allbritton secured a controlling stake in The Washington Star Company, which included its television and radio assets: WMAL-AM-FM-TV in Washington; WLVA-AM and WSET-TV in Lynchburg; and WCIV in Charleston. Due to stricter cross-media ownership regulations enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Allbritton was compelled to divest either the newspaper or broadcast properties in Washington. The FCC regarded his acquisition as a change in ownership that revoked grandfathered protections for WMAL stations. Consequently, he sold off the Star Company's non-broadcast holdings. In compliance with FCC mandates preventing different owners from sharing call signs within the same market, WMAL-TV and WLVA-TV were renamed WJLA-TV and WSET-TV, respectively, in 1977.

In May 1994, ABC affiliate WBRC in Birmingham was sold to New World Communications, which entered an affiliation agreement transitioning eleven of its stations to become affiliates of the Fox Broadcasting Company. Due to FCC ownership restrictions, WBRC and Piedmont Triad ABC affiliate WGHP were placed into a blind trust late that year. Both stations were sold to Fox Television Stations by July 1995; however, WBRC continued as an ABC affiliate until its contract ended in August 1996. Prior to WBRC's conversion into a Fox owned-and-operated station, Allbritton purchased WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV, converting them into full-power satellite stations of WBMA-LD. This acquisition led Allbritton to establish a groupwide affiliation agreement with ABC, resulting in WCIV and sister station WBSG-TV (currently Ion Television's WPXC-TV) switching their affiliations to ABC.

In June 1998, negotiations commenced between ABC’s parent company The Walt Disney Company and Allbritton regarding the purchase of Allbritton’s eight stations along with local marketing agreements involving WJSU-TV and WJXX for an amount exceeding $1 billion. These stations were part of an affiliation arrangement responding to the 1994 New World-Fox realignment that affected WBRC. Nevertheless, Disney withdrew from discussions the following month, terminating the prospective acquisition.

Sinclair's Acquisition of Television Stations

In May 2013, Allbritton considered divesting its television assets, prompted by the rising success of Politico, which remained profitable and free of debt. On July 29, 2013, Sinclair Broadcast Group, headquartered in Baltimore, declared its intention to purchase all of Allbritton's stations for $985 million. Sinclair planned to utilize WJLA's NewsChannel 8 as a cornerstone for developing a national cable news network.

The transaction encountered regulatory obstacles due to Sinclair’s existing ownership in overlapping markets and heightened FCC scrutiny concerning local marketing agreements (LMAs) and joint sales agreements (JSAs). To comply, Sinclair proposed selling several stations in Birmingham, Harrisburg, and Charleston to Deerfield Media and Howard Stirk Holdings, which would operate them under LMAs. However, the FCC cautioned that these deals might breach ownership regulations by removing their grandfathered protections.

By March 2014, Sinclair revised the arrangement, deciding to sell its stations in Harrisburg, Charleston, and Birmingham outright while acquiring Allbritton’s WCIV, WHTM-TV, and WBMA-LD. This created a duopoly between WBMA-LD and the CW affiliate WTTO in Birmingham without operational partnerships involving the buyers of the divested stations. In May 2014, Sinclair revealed difficulties in finding purchasers for three stations, leading to further adjustments: retaining WHP-TV in Harrisburg but selling WHTM to Media General; in Charleston and Birmingham, Sinclair suggested shutting down WCIV along with full-power repeaters of WBMA-LD (WJSU and WCFT), transferring ABC programming to Sinclair-owned WMMP and WABM via digital subchannels.

Following nearly a year of delays, the FCC granted approval for Sinclair’s acquisition of Allbritton on July 24, 2014. The sale was completed on August 1, with WHTM managed under a "hold separate agreement" until its transfer to Media General was finalized on September 2.

Newspapers

Allbritton founded Politico, a political news platform and newspaper, in 2007 coinciding with the 2007 State of the Union Address. In 2009, Politico was spun off to Capitol News Company, an independent entity still owned by Allbritton.

In 2010, Allbritton launched TBD, a Washington-based local news website that integrated content from its television outlets WJLA-TV (Channel 7) and NewsChannel 8. The site was led by former Washington Post editor Jim Brady but ceased operations in 2012.

Allbritton held ownership of the Washington Evening Star from 1975 until it was sold to Time Inc. in 1978; the newspaper ultimately ceased publication in 1981.

Former stations

• Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and city of license.
• Stations constructed and launched by Allbritton Communications or its predecessor The Washington Star Company are marked with two boldface asterisks (**).

Stations formerly owned by Allbritton Communications

Media market	State/District	Station	Acquisition Year	Divestiture Year	Remarks
Anniston	Alabama	WJSU-TV	1996	2014
Birmingham		WBMA-LD	1994	2014
Tuscaloosa		WCFT-TV	1996	2014
Little Rock	Arkansas	KATV	1982	2014
Washington, D.C.	District of Columbia	WJLA-TV **	1975	2014
Jacksonville	Florida	WJXX **	1997	2000
Brunswick	Georgia	WBSG	1997	2001
Tulsa	Oklahoma	KTUL-TV	1982	2014
Harrisburg	Pennsylvania	WHTM-TV	1996	2014
Charleston	South Carolina	WCIV **	1975	2014
Lynchburg–Roanoke	Virginia	WSET-TV	1975	2014