LIN TV Corporation is an American holding company that operates 31 television stations.

History

LIN TV's roots trace back to the founding of its former parent, LIN Broadcasting Corporation, in the mid 1960s. 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 where it originally owned radio stations: Louisville, Indianapolis and Nashville (all located on Interstate 65).

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

LIN Television's Chief Executive Officer is Vincent L. Sadusky. Sadusky had formerly been LIN's Chief Financial Officer as well as Vice President and treasurer since 2004, and previously was CFO for Telemundo, working closely on its sale to GE/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 officially installed as CEO upon Chapman's official retirement on July 10, 2006.

In March 1990, McCaw Cellular Communications purchased a 52% interest in LIN Broadcasting. McCaw was acquired by AT&T in 1994, after which LIN Broadcastings television operations were spun off as a public company traded on the NASDAQ 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 acquired WIVB-TV in Buffalo, New York and WTNH-TV in New Haven, Connecticut.

In March 1998, LIN Television was acquired by Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Incorporated (HMTF), a leading private investment firm based in Dallas, Texas. At the time of the HMTF acquisition, LIN contributed its Dallas NBC affiliate to a joint venture with the network that also holds the San Diego affiliate. Under HMTFs ownership, LIN Television has grown considerably through a wide range of transactions:

In June 1999, LIN acquired WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a station to which it had been providing consulting services for a number of years.

In August, LIN helped finance the establishment of Banks Broadcasting, a minority-owned television broadcast company in which it holds a 50% interest. Today, Banks owns the CW Television Network affiliate KNIN-TV in Boise, Idaho.

LIN purchased WAPA-TV in San Juan, Puerto Rico in October. In April 2000, LIN acquired WLFI-TV, serving Lafayette, Indiana in exchange for 66% of its station WAND-TV in Decatur, Illinois. LIN continued to provide management oversight for WAND for several years after the swap was completed.

LIN purchased WWLP-TV in Springfield, Massachusetts in 2000. In 2001, LIN acquired WJPX and two satellite facilities in Puerto Rico, and WNLO-TV in Buffalo.

The company exercised and closed on options to purchase WOTV-TV in Battle Creek, Michigan and WVBT-TV in Norfolk, Virginia, both stations that it had already managed, in January 2002.

In February, LIN agreed to acquire seven stations in six markets from STC Broadcasting. The transaction of the stations was completed in May. Also in May, LIN TV Corp. completed the issuance of 19.55 million shares of Class A Common Stock through its Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

In December 2002, LIN TV announced the sale of two television stations in Abilene and San Angelo, Texas. This was followed in January 2004 by the sale of a station in Flint, Michigan.

In late August 2005, LIN purchased several stations from Emmis Communications, the stations purchased were WALA and WBPG in Mobile, Alabama, WTHI-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana, KRQE in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and WLUK in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In July 2006, LIN announced the planned purchase a second station in New Mexico, KASA-TV, from Raycom Media.

In May, 2006, LIN TV announced the sale of Puerto Rico stations WAPA-TV and WJPX to InterMedia Partners, L.P. for $130 million.

On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company.

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

On October 3, 2008, LIN TV's stations were dropped from Time Warner Cable, due to a dispute over "retransmission fees."

Stations

TV stations Owned and/or Operated by LIN

LIN has partial holdings in three other stations, however LIN does not control these stations:

• A 50% share in Banks Broadcasting, which owns one CW affiliate:
• KNIN-TV 9 Boise, Idaho (formerly UPN)
• 24% of two NBC Owned-and-Operated stations
• KNSD 39/7 San Diego, California
• KXAS 5, Fort Worth, Texas (see below table)

Former LIN Stations

LIN also previously owned two stations in San Juan, Puerto Rico and their satellite stations across Puerto Rico; they were sold to InterMedia Partners, L.P. in March 2007. The more notable of the two, WAPA, also has a cable feed called WAPA America which is seen on DirecTV, RCN and several cable systems along the East Coast and in St. Croix.

External links

• Official web site
• List of LIN stations