BHC Communications
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2013) |
Formerly | BHC, Incorporated |
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Company type | Broadcast television |
Founded | 1977 |
Defunct | July 31, 2001 |
Fate | Sold to News Corporation |
Successor | Fox Television Stations |
Key people |
|
Revenue | $443.5 million (1997) |
Parent | Chris-Craft Industries |
Divisions | |
Subsidiaries |
|
Footnotes / references [2][3] |
BHC Communications, Inc. was the holding company for the broadcast property of Chris-Craft Industries. BHC stands for "broadcasting holding company".[3]
History
The firm was originally incorporated in 1977 as BHC, Incorporated by
Warner Communications, Inc. purchased a 42.5 percent share in BHC for $200 million in convertible preferred stock. With the Time, Inc./Warner Communications, Inc. merger into Time-Warner, Inc., BHC got a return of some stock held by Warner, cash, and Time Warner convertible preferred stock in Time Warner, a total of valued at $2.3 billion over a six-year period. With this settlement, BHC was reincorporated as BHC Communications, Inc. with stock restructured with two classes of stock giving Chris-Craft most of the voting power. Some BHC's shares were distributed to other Warner stockholders made it a publicly traded corporation. Some the payment were used to buy back BHC class A shares. WWOR-TV, an independent station (and national superstation) in the New York City area, was purchased in 1992 for $313 million. In 1995, United Sales Enterprises was formed to hand national spot advertising time for all BHC/United stations.[3]
Chris-Craft TV teamed up with
In January 1995, BHC affiliated all of its stations, except the Salt Lake City and San Antonio outlets, with the newly launched
In the late 1990s, BHC acquired two television stations, WHSW (now WUTB) in Baltimore, Maryland, and WRBW in Orlando, Florida, it resulted in the increase of BHC's number of television stations to ten.
In 1999, Viacom announced plans to merge with CBS Corporation. Because of a regulation upheld by the FCC years ago, prohibiting companies from owning two broadcast networks. Viacom's announcement raised questions regarding the future of Chris-Craft and Viacom's joint ownership of UPN. In Viacom and Chris-Craft's original agreement, two options for exiting the partnership had been determined—buying out the other partner or paying for what the partner had invested up to that date and providing funds for the future operation of UPN. Either option would cost Viacom substantial sums of money. Industry analysts agreed that Chris-Craft could emerge the winner and offered other possible scenarios—that Viacom might offer Chris-Craft some of its stations in exchange for severing the partnership or that Chris-Craft might sell Viacom's share to another company.
In 2000, a lawsuit was filed by BHC against the
Former stations
(**) – indicates station built and signed-on by BHC Communications.
City of license/Market | Call sign | Channel | Years owned | Current status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Phoenix, AZ | KUTP** | 45 | 1985–2001 | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Fox Television Stations |
Los Angeles, CA | KCOP-TV | 13 | 1977–2001[a] | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Fox Television Stations |
San Francisco, CA | KBHK-TV | 44 | 1983–2001 | Independent KPYX owned by CBS News and Stations |
Orlando, FL | WRBW | 65 | 1998–2001 | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Fox Television Stations |
Baltimore, MD | WUTB | 24 | 1998–2001 | TBD affiliate owned by Deerfield Media[b] |
Minneapolis–St. Paul, MN | KMSP-TV | 9 | 1981–2001[c] | Fox owned-and-operated (O&O) |
New York City, NY | WWOR-TV | 9 | 1992–2001 | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Fox Television Stations |
Portland, OR | KPTV | 12 | 1977–2001[a] | Fox affiliate owned by Gray Television |
San Antonio, TX | KMOL-TV | 4 | 1981–2001[c] | NBC/The CW affiliate WOAI-TV owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
Salt Lake City, UT | KTVX | 4 | 1981–2001[c] | ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
United Television
Company type | Parent |
|
---|---|---|
Divisions | United Television Sales |
United Television was a corporation operating multiple television stations founded in 1956 to run station
In January 1998, United Television acquired a third UHF station in Baltimore for $80 million, changed its call letters to WUTB, and made the station a UPN affiliate. United, in October 1997, agreed to purchase
References
- ^ "SEC".
- ^ a b "Fox Entertainment Group Inc. 2001 Annual Report". EDGAR. Fox Entertainment Group. September 28, 2001. p. 6. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "History of BHC Communications, Inc". Funding Universe. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
- ^ "MCA TV Spins The Bottle". Variety. April 10, 1995. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
- ^ King, Susan (January 23, 1994). "Space, 2258, in the Year 1994". Los Angeles Times. p. 4. Retrieved June 25, 2009.
- ^ Hofmeister, Sallie (August 12, 2000). "News Corp. to Buy Chris-Craft Parent for $5.5 Billion, Outbidding Viacom". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
- ^ "WRBT May be Sold to 20th Century Fox," State Times Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA, November 15, 1980, Page 12-A
- ^ Freeman, Michael (April 13, 1998). "Bohbot financial report discloses Chris-Craft stake". Mediaweek. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.