| Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC | |
| Type: | Private |
| Genre: | Television broadcasting |
| Fate: | Acquired by Sinclair |
| Successor: | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Location City: | Schaumburg, Illinois |
| Location Country: | USA |
| Locations: | Fifteen ranked television markets (U.S.) |
| Industry: | Mass media |
| Services: | Broadcasting |
| Parent: | Pilot Group |
Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, was an American corporation focused on broadcast television, primarily in middle and small size media markets. Barrington was owned or operated via duopoly twenty-four television stations, with the potential to reach about 3.4 percent of households in the U.S.[1] It was owned by Pilot Group, a private equity firm.
Barrington Broadcasting is a media company that was established in May 2003 by a team of former executives from Benedek Broadcasting. Following Benedek's bankruptcy and subsequent divestiture of all television assets in 2002, K. James Yager, the former President, along with Senior Vice-Presidents Chris Cornelius, Keith Bland, and Mary Flodin, formed a company for medium and small market broadcasting.[2]
The company began operations in January 2004 with its purchases of former Benedek stations WHOI-TV (Peoria, Illinois) and KHQA-TV (Hannibal, Missouri/Quincy, Illinois) along with WEYI-TV in Vienna Township, Michigan. Barrington grew slowly at first, adding five more stations between 2004 and early 2006. A major expansion took place on March 27, 2006, when Raycom Media agreed to sell twelve of its network-affiliated TV stations to Barrington for $262 million.[3] The sale was completed on August 11.[4] In recent years, Barrington has been at the forefront of integrating social media and the internet into their on-air content.[2]
In late 2012, it was announced that Pilot Group had put Barrington up for sale and that both Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group were in final talks to acquire the full regiment of stations.[5] On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced that it would sell its stations to Sinclair.[6] The sale was granted FCC approval on November 18.[7] The transaction was formally consummated on November 25.[8]
Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
| City of license / Market | Station | Channel | Years owned | Current status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Springs–Pueblo, CO | KXRM-TV | 21 | 2006–2013 | Fox affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group | |
| KXTU-LD | 57 | 2006–2013 | The CW station owned-and-operated (O&O) by Nexstar Media Group | ||
| Albany, GA | WFXL | 31 | 2006–2013 | Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Peoria–Bloomington, IL | WHOI | 19 | 2004–2013 | TBD affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Marquette, MI | WLUC-TV | 6 | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television | |
| Saginaw–Bay City–Flint–Midland, MI | WEYI-TV | 25 | 2004–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Howard Stirk Holdings | |
| WBSF | 46 | 2004–2013 | The CW affiliate owned by Cunningham Broadcasting | ||
| Traverse City–Cheboygan–Cadillac– Sault Ste. Marie, MI | WPBN-TV | 7 | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| WTOM-TV | 4 | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | ||
| WGTU | 29 | 2009–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Cunningham Broadcasting | ||
| WGTQ | 8 | 2009–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Cunningham Broadcasting | ||
| Columbia–Jefferson City, MO | KRCG | 13 | 2005–2013 | CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Hannibal, MO–Quincy, IL–Keokuk, IA | KHQA-TV | 7 | 2004–2013 | CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Kirksville, MO–Ottumwa, IA | KTVO | 3 | 2006–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Syracuse, NY | WSTM-TV | 3 | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| WTVH | 5 | CBS affiliate owned by Granite Broadcasting | |||
| WSTQ-LP | 14 | 2006–2013 | The CW affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | ||
| Toledo, OH | WNWO-TV | 24 | 2006–2013 | NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Columbia, SC | WACH | 57 | 2006–2013 | Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Florence–Myrtle Beach, SC | WPDE-TV | 15 | 2005–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| WWMB | 21 | Dabl affiliate owned by Howard Stirk Holdings | |||
| Amarillo, TX–Clovis, NM | KVII-TV | 7 | 2005–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| KVIH-TV | 12 | 2005–2013 | ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | ||
| Harlingen–McAllen–Brownsville, TX | KGBT-TV | 4 | 2006–2013 | Antenna TV affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |