Granite Broadcasting
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | February 8, 1988 in New York City, United States |
| Founder | W. Don Cornwell, Stuart Beck |
| Defunct | 2015 |
| Fate | Sold most stations and restructured ownership |
| Successor | Various (E.W. Scripps Company, Quincy Newspapers, SagamoreHill Broadcasting) |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Peter Markham (Chairman and CEO), Duane Lammers (COO) |
| Products | Television station ownership and broadcasting |
| Owner | Silver Point Capital (post-2007) |
Granite Broadcasting LLC is a broadcasting holding company headquartered in New York City, currently owning a single television station located in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1988 by entrepreneurs W. Don Cornwell and Stuart Beck, Granite holds the distinction of being the first major station operator in the United States led by African-American executives.
The firm's main office is situated at 767 Third Avenue, New York City. Leading the organization are Chairman and CEO Peter Markham along with COO Duane Lammers.
History
On February 8, 1988, W. Don Cornwell departed from Goldman Sachs' investment banking division to join forces with Stuart Beck in founding Granite Broadcasting Corporation. The company grew through strategic acquisitions, notably acquiring two stations from Meredith Corporation in 1993—WTVH in Syracuse and KSEE in Fresno—for $38 million. Granite's largest purchase came in 1997 with the acquisition of KOFY-TV for $143.8 million. Under Cornwell’s direction as CEO and chairman until 2009, Granite expanded its portfolio to include 23 stations across 11 different markets.
In April 2006, Granite added WBNG-TV in Binghamton to its holdings for $45 million during SJL Broadcasting's asset liquidation. However, the company encountered financial difficulties following the 2006 broadcast TV realignment, which disrupted advertising revenue for its Detroit and San Francisco WB affiliates after losing The CW affiliation to CBS-owned rivals. This situation resulted in Granite filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on December 11, 2006. The company reemerged from bankruptcy in June 2007 under the ownership of private equity firm Silver Point Capital, which subsequently acquired Communications Corporation of America.
In 2011, Granite initiated legal action against Nexstar Media Group regarding Fox network affiliations but reached a settlement in 2013 that restored Fox rights for WFFT.
February 2014 saw Granite divest most of its stations: WKBW-TV (Buffalo) and WMYD (Detroit) were sold to E.W. Scripps Company for $110 million, creating a duopoly with Scripps’ ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV. Other stations were transferred to Quincy Newspapers and SagamoreHill Broadcasting; however, SagamoreHill was eventually excluded from the Quincy transaction.
By July 2015, the deal was restructured so that SagamoreHill took ownership of WISE-TV; concurrently, the shared services agreement between WISE and Quincy-owned WPTA was ended; all network affiliations of WISE moved to WPTA except for The CW Plus affiliation. The Federal Communications Commission approved this arrangement on September 15, 2015, with the sale closing on November 2, 2015.
Current
| Media market | Station | Channel | Owned since | Current affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syracuse, NY | WTVH | 5 | 1993 | CBS |
Former
- Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and city of license.
| Media market | State | Station | Purchased | Sold | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresno | California | KSEE | 1993 | 2013 | |
| San Francisco–San Jose | KNTV | 1990 | 2002 | ||
| KOFY-TV | 1998 | 2018 | Known as KBWB (1998–2008). | ||
| Peoria | Illinois | WEEK-TV | 1988 | 2015 | |
| WHOI | 2009 | 2015 | Owned by third party. | ||
| WAOE | 1999 | 2014 | Owned by third party. | ||
| Fort Wayne | Indiana | WPTA | 1989 | 2005 | Owned by Malara Broadcast Group (2005–2015). |
| WISE-TV | 2005 | 2015 | |||
| Detroit | Michigan | WMYD | 1997 | 2014 | Known as WXON before 1997 and WDWB (1997–2006). |
| Kalamazoo | Michigan | WWMT | 1995 | 1998 | |
| Lansing | Michigan | WLAJ | 1996 | 1998 | |
| Chisholm | Minnesota | KRII | 2002 | 2015 | Satellite of KBJR-TV. |
| Duluth | Minnesota | KBJR-TV | 1988 | 2015 | |
| KDLH | 2005 | 2015 | Owned by Malara Broadcast Group. | ||
| Binghamton | New York | WBNG-TV | 2006 | 2015 | |
| Buffalo | New York | WKBW-TV | 1995 | 2014 | |
| Austin | Texas | KEYE-TV | 1994 | 1999 | Known as KBVO-TV before 1995. |
External links
- American companies founded in 1988
- American companies dissolved in 2015
- Defunct U.S. television broadcast firms
- Defunct New York (state) based businesses
- Mass media firms established in 1988
- Mass media firms closed in 2015
- Mass media organizations headquartered in New York City
- Companies that filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2006
- Gray Media
- Mergers and acquisitions in 2015
- Companies of the United States by year of establishment
- American companies established in 1988