Northwest Broadcasting, Inc. was a television broadcasting company based in Okemos, Michigan, United States, a suburb of Lansing. The broadcasting group owned or operated twelve television stations in six markets, through subsidiaries such as Broadcasting Communications, Mountain Communications, Stainless Broadcasting, and Bristlecone Broadcasting.
History Northwest Broadcasting was founded in 1995 by Brian Brady to acquire the television stations of Salmon River Communications, including KAYU-TV in Spokane, Washington, K68EB in Yakima, Washington, KBWU-LP in the Tri-Cities (Richland-Kennewick-Pasco, Washington), and KMVU in Medford, Oregon. In 1997, Northwest purchased Stainless, Inc. for $17 million; while Stainless was primarily a manufacturer of broadcasting towers, the purchase also added WICZ-TV in Binghamton, New York, and KTVZ in Bend, Oregon, to Northwest's station group. Stainless had owned broadcast stations since purchasing WICZ (then known as WINR-TV) in 1971. Though Northwest would sell the Stainless tower company to SpectraSite Holdings in 1999 and KTVZ to News-Press & Gazette Company in 2002, it still owns WICZ-TV under the Stainless Broadcasting Company name.
Brian Brady expanded his broadcast holdings in 2002, when he teamed up with Alta Communications to acquire the K-Six Television stations under the name Eagle Creek Broadcasting; Alta had also invested in Northwest Broadcasting in 1996. Alta divested its interest in Northwest Broadcasting in 2007 and in Eagle Creek Broadcasting in 2013. During the 2010s, Brady acquired additional stations through companies such as Blackhawk Broadcasting, Bristlecone Broadcasting, and Cedar Creek Broadcasting. These companies have occasionally made joint filings with Northwest Broadcasting in Federal Communications Commission proceedings under the name "The TV Station Group."
In February 2019, Reuters reported that Apollo Global Management had agreed to acquire the entirety of Brian Brady's television portfolio, which it intends to merge with Cox Media Group (which Apollo is acquiring at the same time) and stations spun off from Nexstar Media Group's purchase of Tribune Broadcasting, once the purchases are approved by the FCC."EXCLUSIVE-Apollo nears $3 billion deal to buy Cox TV stations -sources" from CNBC (February 10, 2019) In March 2019 filings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Apollo confirmed that its newly-formed broadcasting group, Terrier Media, would acquire Northwest Broadcasting, with Brian Brady holding an unspecified minority interest in Terrier. In June 2019, it was announced that Terrier Media would instead operate as Cox Media Group, as Apollo had reached a deal to also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses. The transaction was completed on December 17."Cox Enterprises Announces Close of Cox Media Group Sale to Affiliates of Apollo Global Management", prnewswire.com, December 17, 2019, Retrieved December 17, 2019.
Former stations Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
+ Stations owned by Northwest Broadcasting Media market State Station Purchased Sold Notes Yuma Arizona KSWT 2014 2019 KYMA-DT 2014 2019 Eureka California KIEM-TV 2017 2019 KVIQ 2016 2017 KVIQ-LD 2016 2019 Pocatello–Idaho Falls Idaho KPVI-DT 2016 2019 Twin Falls KXTF 2016 2017 Bowling Green Kentucky WNKY 1997 2003 Alexandria Louisiana KLAX-TV 2018 2019 KWCE-LP 2018 2019 Greenville–Greenwood Mississippi WABG-TV 2016 2019 WFXW 2016 2019 WNBD-LD 2016 2019 WXVT-LD 2017 2019 Binghamton New York WBPN-LP 2000 2019 WICZ-TV 1997 2019 Syracuse WNYS-TV 2013 2019 WSYT 2013 2019 Bend Oregon KTVZ 1997 2002 Medford KFBI-LD 2013 2019 KMCW-LP 2013 2016 KMVU-DT 1995 2019 Corpus Christi Texas KZTV 2002 2010 Laredo KNEX-LP 2012 2015 KVTV 2002 2015 Spokane Washington KAYU-TV 1996 2019 Tri-Cities–Yakima KCYU-LD 1996 2019 KFFX-TV 1999 2019 Walla Walla KBKI 2001 2002
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