Multimedia, Inc.
{{Short description|American media company (1968–1995)}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Multimedia, Inc.
| fate = Acquired by Gannett Co. (television counterpart sold to Universal Studios in 1996; cable TV counterpart sold to Cox Communications in 2000)
Assets now existing as part of Gannett and Tegna Inc.
| logo =
| type = Public
| foundation = {{Start date and age|1968|1|1}}
| defunct = {{End date and age|1995|12|4}}
| location = Greenville, South Carolina
| key_people = Craig A. Dubow (chairman, president & CEO)
| revenue =
| industry = Media
| products = Newspapers, television, and Internet media
| num_employees = 49,675
| homepage =
}}
Multimedia, Inc. was a media company that owned 12 daily newspapers, 49 weekly newspapers, two radio stations, five television stations, and a cable television system division. The company was headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.
History
Multimedia's origins can be traced to December 1932, when the News-Piedmont Company of Greenville, which published the Greenville News and Greenville Piedmont newspapers, acquired radio station WFBC, only weeks after the station relocated to Greenville from Knoxville, Tennessee. In November 1953 the News-Piedmont Co. acquired majority ownership of the Asheville Citizen and Asheville Times and its wholly owned radio station, WWNC. WFBC-TV, the News and Piedmont's television station, signed on from Greenville at the end of 1953.
The News-Piedmont Co. would expand its broadcast holdings with the acquisitions of WBIR-AM-FM-TV in Knoxville in 1961, and of the Southeastern Broadcasting Company, which owned WMAZ-AM-FM-TV in Macon, Georgia, in 1963. Then, in September 1967 the three commonly owned companies announced that, pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), they would merge by January 1, 1968, taking on the Multimedia, Inc. name.{{cite news |title=Stockholders Favor Merger Of Papers, TV |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bHMsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vssEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6232%2C2648182 |access-date=October 27, 2024 |work=The Spartanburg Herald |agency=Associated Press |date=September 16, 1967 |page=3}} At the time Multimedia consisted of the Asheville and Greenville newspapers, three television stations and seven radio stations.{{cite news |title=FCC Asked Permission For Merger |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Z3MsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vssEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3901%2C963849 |access-date=October 27, 2024 |work=The Spartanburg Herald |agency=Associated Press |date=September 7, 1967 |page=2}}
The company's most significant acquisitions came in 1976, when it purchased several properties from Cincinnati-based Avco, which was liquidating its media holdings. Multimedia first bought Avco's flagship television station, WLWT in Cincinnati, and later acquired Avco Program Sales, the syndication division which produced and nationally distributed The Phil Donahue Show and a regionally-distributed program produced at WLWT, The Bob Braun 50-50 Club. This division would be renamed Multimedia Program Sales.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1976/1976-05-10-BC.pdf|title=Fates and Fortunes: Programming|newspaper=Broadcasting|date=May 10, 1976|accessdate=October 25, 2022}}
The company was involved in one of the more unusual media transactions in history. In 1983, it sold its flagship television station, WFBC-TV in Greenville (now WYFF) and WXII-TV in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Pulitzer, Inc. In return, Multimedia received Pulitzer's former flagship television station, KSDK in St. Louis. Multimedia used its new purchase as the testing ground for a new show hosted by Sally Jessy Raphael.
General Electric's NBC unit considered buying the company in 1995, but a deal never materialized.{{cite news|last=Carter|first=Bill|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/13/business/the-media-business-nbc-group-is-set-to-bid-for-the-assets-of-multimedia.html|title=THE MEDIA BUSINESS; NBC Group Is Set to Bid For the Assets of Multimedia|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 13, 1995|accessdate=July 2, 2021}} Instead, on July 24, 1995, the Gannett Company announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Multimedia for $1.7 billion, plus $539 million in long-term debt.{{cite news|last=Fabrikant|first=Geraldine|title=THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Expanding in TV, Gannett Agrees to Buy Multimedia|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/25/business/the-media-business-expanding-in-tv-gannett-agrees-to-buy-multimedia.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 25, 1995|accessdate=July 2, 2021}}{{cite news|last=Farhi|first=Paul|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/07/25/gannett-co-to-purchase-media-firm/d14d32df-c1e1-43e8-bfb4-0af47d09984d/|title=GANNETT CO. TO PURCHASE MEDIA FIRM|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 25, 1995|accessdate=July 2, 2021}}{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Tim|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-07-25-9507250264-story.html|title=GANNETT WIDENS SCOPE, ACQUIRING MULTIMEDIA|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=July 25, 1995|accessdate=July 2, 2021}}{{cite press release|url=https://www.tegna.com/gannett-multimedia-announce-merger-agreement|title=Gannett, Multimedia announce merger agreement|publisher=Gannett|date=December 4, 1995|accessdate=July 2, 2021|via=Tegna Inc.}}{{cite news|url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1995/07/25/gannett-agrees-to-buy-multimedia-inc/|title=Gannett agrees to buy Multimedia Inc.|newspaper=Tampa Bay Times|date=July 25, 1995|accessdate=July 2, 2021}} The merger was approved by the FCC in November 1995 and was completed a month later, on December 4.{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/1995/tv/features/fcc-approves-buy-of-multimedia-by-gannett-99123668|title=FCC Approves Buy Of Multimedia By Gannett|website=Variety|date=December 3, 1995|accessdate=July 2, 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/12/04/Multimedia-deal-closes/3720818053200/|title=Multimedia deal closes|work=United Press International|date=December 4, 1995|accessdate=July 2, 2021}} In November 1996, Gannett sold Multimedia Entertainment to MCA subsidiary of Seagram.{{cite news|last=Fabrikant|first=Geraldine|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/26/business/unit-of-mca-is-acquiring-talk-shows.html|title=Unit of MCA is Acquiring Talk Shows|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 26, 1996|accessdate=July 2, 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-26-fi-3181-story.html|title=MCA to Buy Syndicator of 'Sally', 'Jerry' Shows|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=November 26, 1996|accessdate=July 2, 2021}}{{cite news|last=McClellan|first=Steve|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/96-OCR/BC-1996-12-02-OCR-Page-0041.pdf|title=MCA buys Multimedia shows|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|date=December 2, 1996|accessdate=July 10, 2021}} In January 2000 the cable television division, which included systems in Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina was sold to Cox Communications. The North Carolina systems were resold to Suddenlink Communications in 2006.
The Multimedia name lives on as a holding company and licensee within what is now Tegna Inc.'s corporate structure. Productions under Multimedia Entertainment continued on into NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, and are now controlled and distributed by NBCUniversal.
Former stations
- Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
- Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicate a station built and signed on by a predecessor company of Multimedia.
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Stations owned by Multimedia ! scope="col" | Media market ! scope="col" | State ! scope="col" | Station ! scope="col" | Purchased ! scope="col" | Sold ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes | |||
| rowspan="2" | Little Rock | rowspan="2" | Arkansas
! scope="row" | KAAY | 1975 | 1985 | |
| scope="row" | KLPQ-FM
| 1976 || 1985 || | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan="3" | Macon | rowspan="3" | Georgia
! scope="row" | WMAZ | 1963 | 1995 | |
| scope="row" | WMAZ-FM
| 1963 || 1995 || {{Efn|Known as WAYS from 1984 onward.}} | |||
| scope="row" | WMAZ-TV
| 1963 || 1995 || | |||
| rowspan="2" | Louisville | rowspan="2" | Kentucky
! scope="row" | WAKY | 1975 | 1985 | |
| scope="row" | WVEZ
| 1980 || 1985 || | |||
| rowspan="2" | Shreveport | rowspan="2" | Louisiana
! scope="row" | KEEL | 1975 | 1994 | |
| scope="row" | KMBQ-FM
| 1975 || 1994 || {{Efn|Known as KITT from 1986 onward.}} | |||
| St. Louis | Missouri
! scope="row" | KSDK | 1983 | 1995 | |
| Asheville | rowspan="2" | North Carolina
! scope="row" | WWNC | 1953 | 1987 | |
| Winston-Salem
! scope="row" | WXII-TV | 1972 | 1983 | ||
| Cincinnati | rowspan="2" | Ohio
! scope="row" | WLWT | 1976 | 1995 | |
| Cleveland
! scope="row" | WKYC-TV | 1990 | 1995 | ||
| rowspan="3" | Greenville | rowspan="4" | South Carolina
! scope="row" | WFBC ** | 1932 | 1995 | |
| scope="row" | WFBC-FM **
| 1947 || 1995 || | |||
| scope="row" | WFBC-TV **
| 1954 || 1983 || | |||
| Spartanburg
! scope="row" | WORD | 1989 | 1994 | ||
| rowspan="3" | Knoxville | rowspan="4" | Tennessee
! scope="row" | WBIR | 1961 | 1980 | |
| scope="row" | WBIR-FM
| 1961 || 1980 || | |||
| scope="row" | WBIR-TV
| 1960 || 1995 || | |||
| Nashville
! scope="row" | WZTV | 1979 | 1988 | ||
| Milwaukee | Wisconsin
! scope="row" | WEZW | 1978 | 1994 |
{{notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Tegna}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Multimedia (Media Company)}}
Category:Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States
Category:Defunct mass media companies of the United States
Category:Companies based in Greenville, South Carolina
Category:Defunct companies based in South Carolina
Category:1968 establishments in South Carolina