ION Media Networks

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ION Media Networks
Type	Public (AMEX: ION)
Founded	West Palm Beach, Florida (1991)
Headquarters	West Palm Beach, Florida
Key people	R. Brandon Burgess, Dean M. Goodman
Industry	Broadcasting
Products	i: Independent Television
Revenue	US$276.6 million (2004)
Employees	433 (2005)
Website	http://www.ionmedia.tv

ION Media Networks (formerly known as Paxson Communications) is an American television broadcasting company that owns and operates over 60 television stations in most major American markets. It is publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol ION.

[edit] History

The company was founded in 1984 by Lowell Paxson in Florida. Paxson purchased radio stations and a couple television stations, eventually becoming Florida's largest radio group. The stations ranged from rock to CHR to adult contemporary to news and talk. The television stations were network affiliates of ABC and NBC. In 1993 Paxson began to purchase stations on the outer fringes of large television markets. These stations would air ValueVision (now ShopNBC) shopping, infomercials, and religious programs.

The company divested itself of both the radio group and major-network affiliated television stations in 1997, focusing on building its own independent network, PAX TV. As time went on Paxson bought mostly outer fringe UHF television stations along with a few typical signal UHF stations. Some examples of outer fringe stations included WBSX in Ann Arbor, Michigan (45 miles from Detroit), KXLI in St. Cloud, Minnesota (60 miles from Minneapolis), WTLK in Rome, Georgia (45 miles from Atlanta), and WAYK in Melbourne, Florida (60 miles from Orlando). Still in some markets Paxson bought stations that had the same type of signals as established stations with medium to high ratings. However, the stations all had specialty formats. These stations included WCFC in Chicago (religious), WTGI in Wilmington, Delaware (brokered), and channel 35 in Miami (infomercials and Shopping), among others. In the fall of 1997 a tentative lineup was announced and it included a family entertainment lineup of drama shows, movies, first run shows, wildlife shows, sitcoms, and talk shows. The most expensive buy was WBIS in New York City. This station was sold to Dow Jones and ITT in 1996 for nearly $200 million from the city government. In January of 1997 Dow Jones launched a business format called S+ during the day and a sports channel after 7 pm and on weekends. Dow Jones/ITT lost money on the operation, sold the station for about $225 million in May of 1997, and shut down S+ that June in favor of Bloomberg Business News, Fox Sports Net and a block previewing new networks, IntroTV. Channel 31 was renamed WPXN with plans to be the flagship station of PAX TV in the fall of 1998. All of the new PAX affiliates received call letters with "PX" in them, for example, WYPX (formerly WOCD) and WBPX (formerly WABU).

PAX launched in 1998 with family dramas like Life Goes On, Touched By An Angel, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Highway To Heaven, and Bonanza, game shows such as Family Feud, Pyramid, Supermarket Sweep, and Shop 'Til You Drop, two sitcoms Dave's World and The Hogan Family, and some movies. The network ran weekdays from noon until 1 am. Morning shows consisted of infomercials and other local shows. Overnights, PAX TV ran contemporary worship music.

Paxson Communications wanted to buy WPCB, channel 40, from Cornerstone Television, and move the license to channel 16, with channel 40 used for educational purposes. The two agreed on a purchase price, but the Federal Communications Commission had too many questions about the deal, most relating to the type of broadcast license to be operated on each channel, and it fell through.

In 1999, Paxson Communications sold 22 percent of its operation to NBC, and most PAX stations rebroadcast local news from the NBC affiliate in those cities. On September 11, 2001, PAX interrupted regular programming to air news on the attacks on America from NBC News.

Due to low ratings and mounting financial costs, PAX TV reduced its hours. In 1999, they were reduced to between 3 pm and midnight, and in 2002, they were reduced again to 6 pm to midnight.

In November 2005, to settle several lawsuits between Paxson Communications and NBC Universal (NBCU), Lowell Paxson granted NBCU an 18-month transferrable option to purchase his shares of the company in an agreement which, if activated, would also trigger a sale of the rest of the company. If Mr. Paxson's shares of the company aren't sold in the option window, the company is obligated to buy them back from Mr. Paxson. As part of the deal, Mr. Paxson left the company, to be replaced as CEO by NBCU executive R. Brandon Burgess.

In 2006, Paxson Communications changed its name to ION Media Networks.

[edit] See also

• List of stations owned and operated by ION Media Networks
• List of i network affiliates

[edit] References

• Corporate website
• Stock investment information