Raycom Media

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Raycom Media Inc. is an American media company .

overview

Raycom Media Inc. is under company law a " Delaware Corporation " with its operating headquarters in the RSA Tower in Montgomery , Alabama . The company has 3,500 employees as of March 2009 and is owned by the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA), an employee pension fund of the state of Alabama. President and CEO is Paul McTear.

Business areas

Raycom operates one of the largest groups of local and regional television broadcasters in the United States on its own responsibility or as a licensor. It consists of 46 stations in 35 marketing regions (designated market areas) in 18 federal states (as of 2008).

Raycom also sells syndicated programs. This means that Raycom acquires broadcasting rights for the non-local program components, for example the national television shows and sporting events, from the major network networks in the country, such as CBS , NBC or FOX , and to the local affiliates contracted with one of these networks as licensee of Raycom's broadcasting systems resold. For some regional leagues (such as the Atlantic Coast Conference , ACC), Raycom also produces the broadcast itself and then syndicates it.

Raycom also organizes show and sporting events and offers information technology support as well as the design and hosting of websites.

subsidiary company

In addition to the transmitter operating companies, the Raycom Group includes in particular the subsidiaries:

history

The origin of the group is Ellis Communications, founded in 1992 by Bert Ellis. This already operated up to 13 television and two radio stations. In 1994, Ellis took over the sports marketing agency Raycom Sports, which had been in existence for 15 years (see subsection Raycom Sports). In 1996, a media company financed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama pension fund took over Ellis Communications and merged it with the broadcasting division that had been bought from Aflac Insurance a few months earlier to form Raycom Media. In 1998 Raycom Media merged with Malrite Communications, which operated five broadcasters in the Midwest and South of the country. In August 2005, Raycom agreed the takeover of The Liberty Corporation, based in Greenville, South Carolina , with 15 stations in the southern and western United States for around one billion US dollars, which was then completed by February 2006 . A short time later, however, some channels (mostly from Raycom's inventory) were sold. In November 2007, Raycom announced its intention to acquire the TV division of Lincoln Financial Media, a subsidiary of the insurance and investment group Lincoln National Corporation . The $ 583 million deal included five television networks and Lincoln Financial Sports, and was completed in early 2008.

Raycom Sports

Raycom Sports was founded in 1979 by the couple Nick and Dee Ray. In the early 1980s they entered into a joint venture with Jefferson Pilot under the name of Raycom / JP Sports. Initially, transmission rights for basket and football competitions between university colleges were mainly marketed. After Lincoln Financial took over Jefferson-Pilot, which resulted in Lincoln Financial Media, the joint venture was renamed Raycom / LF Sports. In contrast to other rights marketers, the company also controlled most of the advertising in the broadcasts and in return paid the local buyers for the broadcast. This strategy was riskier, but ultimately led to great economic success. After the 1994 merger of Raycom Sports with Ellis Communications and the takeover of Ellis by a media company financed by Retirement Systems of Alabama, Raycom Sports remained an independent business unit; eventually the name Raycom was adopted for the entire media group.

Channel

The Raycom America Tower Cape Girardeau , which was built from 1960 to 1962 and a Raycom Media-owned transmission mast for the local television company KFVS in Cape Girardeau , Missouri, is 511.1 meters high. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest structure on earth ; Even today (early 2009) it is the seventh highest structure in the world. The programs it broadcasts can be received not only in Missouri, but also in parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.

The tallest structure in the state of Ohio , the 438 meter high WNWO Tower in Jerusalem (Ohio) , built in 1983, has also been owned by Raycom Media since the merger of Malrite Communications with Raycom.

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