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Lilly Broadcasting

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Lilly Broadcasting, LLC
Company typeprivate limited liability company
IndustryTV broadcasting
FoundedSeptember 1999; 25 years ago (1999-09)
Headquarters
Erie, Pennsylvania
,
United States
SubsidiariesSJL Broadcasting
Websitelillybroadcasting.com

Lilly Broadcasting, LLC is a privately owned American broadcasting company owned and operated by the Lilly Brothers.

The company was founded in September 1999 with the purchase of WENY-TV (ABC) and WENY-FM & AM radio. In 2002, Kevin Lilly purchased WSEE-TV (CBS) in Erie, Pennsylvania and have since added the CBS and The CW affiliates in Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and ABC in the Virgin Islands.

Brian and Kevin Lilly are the sons of George Lilly, whose SJL Broadcast Management (also previously known as the Montecito Broadcast Group) was founded in 1984 and based in Montecito, California. SJL owns WICU-TV in Erie and the two Companies purchased three TV stations from Gateway Communications in 2000, and four stations from Emmis Communications in 2005.

Lilly Broadcasting most recently with Sankaty Advisors purchased KITV (ABC) in Hawaii. Lilly sold the station to Byron Allen's Allen Media Broadcasting in 2021.

History

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Lilly Broadcasting is headquartered in the studio facility of its Erie duopoly, WICU-TV/WSEE-TV.

WJRT-TV was sold to SJL Broadcast Management in 1989.[1] In 1991, a SJL affiliated partnership,[2] Media Communications Partners Limited Partnership, purchased WTVG.[3]

SJL announced the sale of WJRT-TV and WTVG to Capital Cities/ABC for $155 million in October 1994[α][5] after CBS signed a long-term deal with Meredith Corporation, owner of Flint's NBC affiliate, WNEM-TV.[6] NBC was rumored to be courting WJRT-TV as a possible replacement for WNEM,[7] prompting Capital Cities/ABC to buy the stations outright.[8] The deal resulted in WTVG converting from an NBC affiliate to ABC.[5]

In 2000, it purchased the Gateway Communications stations for $96 million.[β][9] In 2002, SJL sold off WOWK-TV to West Virginia Media Holdings for $40.5 million.[γ][10] In April 2006, SJL sold off WBNG-TV to Granite Broadcasting for $45 million,[δ][11] this was followed on July 26, 2006 by selling WTAJ-TV and the licensee assets of WLYH-TV to Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $56 million,[ε] completely undoing the Gateway/SJL deal.[12]

On July 24, 2007, Montecito announced the sale of all of its remaining stations except WICU (KHON-TV, KOIN, KSNW and KSNT) to New Vision Television, ending the partnership between SJL and The Blackstone Group.[13] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted approval of this sale in late-October of that year, and ownership was officially transferred on November 1.

On March 1, 2009, the last station formally owned by SJL, WICU, transferred its copyrights to Lilly Broadcasting when it merged its news operations with crosstown sister station WSEE-TV. Though SJL still technically exists (and still ostensibly owns WICU), its visible operations have now been subsumed by Lilly Broadcasting.

On November 3, 2010, Broadcasting & Cable magazine announced that SJL Broadcasting made an agreement with Disney to buy back WJRT-TV and WTVG, the two smallest stations in ABC's O&O portfolio.[14] The sale was completed on April 1, 2011 with both stations general manager exiting their positions at change of ownership.[15] Lilly announced on July 24, 2014, that it would sell both WJRT and WTVG to Gray Television in a $128 million transaction.[ζ][16] In 2016, Gray announced that it would operate its bureau in Washington, DC, in cooperation with Lilly.[17]

On May 13, 2015, Hearst Television announced that it would sell KITV in Honolulu, Hawaii, and its satellites (KHVO in Hilo and KMAU in Wailuku) to SJL; the deal marks the return of the company to Hawaii, following its prior ownership of KHON-TV.[18] The sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on July 10, 2015[19] and completed on September 1, 2015.[20]

Lilly Broadcasting re-entered radio in 2019 by purchasing the three-station cluster in Warren, Pennsylvania, that had previously been owned by Frank Iorio's Radio Partners; Iorio sold off his only other broadcast asset, Pittsburgh's WJAS, to another buyer in 2020.[21] Lilly had previously owned and operated radio stations in Elmira before selling those off a few years after acquiring that cluster.[22]

Stations

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Current stations

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Stations currently owned by Lilly Broadcasting
Media market State Station Purchased Notes
Tamuning Guam KTGM 2023 [a]
KEQI-LD 2023 [a]
Marquette Michigan WZMQ 2017
Elmira New York WENY-TV 2000
Ithaca W07BJ 2018 [b]
Erie Pennsylvania WICU-FM 2019
WICU-TV 1996
WSEE-TV 2002 [c]
Warren, PA WICU 2019
WNAE 2019
WRRN 2019
Christiansted U.S. Virgin Islands WCVI-TV 2019
  1. ^ a b Owned by Sorensen Media Group.
  2. ^ Operated by WENY as NY Local Ithaca.[23]
  3. ^ Operates under a shared services agreement with WICU.

Non-broadcast

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  • WNY News Now—Jamestown, NY, via a joint operations agreement with The WNY Media Company[24]
  • One Caribbean Television

Former stations

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Stations formerly owned by Lilly Broadcasting
Media market State Station Purchased Sold Notes
San Luis Obispo California KSBY 1996 2002
Hilo Hawaii KHAW-TV 2006 2007 [A]
KHVO 2015 2021 [B]
Honolulu KHON-TV 2006 2007
KITV 2015 2021
Kauai K55DZ 2006 2007 [A]
Maui–Wailuku KAII-TV 2006 2007 [A]
KMAU 2015 2021 [B]
Garden City–Dodge City Kansas KSNG 1988 1995 [C]
2006 2007
Great Bend–Hays–Salina KSNC 1988 1995 [C]
2006 2007
Topeka KSNT 1988 1995
2006 2007
Wichita–Hutchinson KSNW 1988 1995
2006 2007
McCook Nebraska KSNK 1988 1995 [C]
2006 2007
Flint Michigan WJRT-TV 1989 1995
2011 2014
Joplin Missouri KOAM-TV 1991 1995
Billings Montana KTVQ 1984 1994
Butte KXLF-TV 1984 1986
Great Falls KRTV 1984 1986
Missoula KPAX-TV 1984 1986
Binghamton New York WBNG-TV 2000 2006
Buffalo WGRZ-TV 1986 1988
Syracuse WSTM-TV 1986 1992
Toledo Ohio WTVG 1991 1995
2011 2014
Portland Oregon KOIN 2006 2007
Altoona Pennsylvania WTAJ-TV 2000 2006
Harrisburg WLYH-TV 2000 2006 [a]
Huntington–Charleston West Virginia WOWK-TV 2000 2002
  1. ^ a b c Satellite of KHON-TV.
  2. ^ a b Satellite of KITV.
  3. ^ a b c Satellite of KSNW.
  1. ^ Owned by SJL, but operated by Clear Channel Communications.

Notes

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  1. ^ equivalent to $318,630,445 in 2023[4]
  2. ^ equivalent to $169,850,435 in 2023[4]
  3. ^ equivalent to $68,606,475 in 2023[4]
  4. ^ equivalent to $68,012,545 in 2023[4]
  5. ^ equivalent to $84,637,834 in 2023[4]
  6. ^ equivalent to $164,741,074 in 2023[4]

References

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  1. ^ "WJRT". Station Listings. Michiguide.com. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  2. ^ Report No. MM 95-60
  3. ^ WTVG TV Channel 13 Toledo, OH. Michigan Television Dial Guide. Michiguide.com. Retrieved on July 17, 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e f 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Capital Cities-ABC Completes Buy of Two TV Stations". Associated Press News. August 30, 1995. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  6. ^ Mattern, Hal (June 30, 1994). "Eye say! Channel 5 called up to majors: Homeless CBS picks longtime independent". The Arizona Republic. pp. A1, A7. Archived from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Pullen, Doug (September 2, 1994). "Channel 5 Adds Weathercaster; Channel 25 Focuses On Health". Flint Journal. Flint, Michigan. pp. C16, C25. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2023 – via GenealogyBank.
  8. ^ "Notes: Scramble for affiliates". The Journal Times Spectrum Sunday. Racine, Wisconsin. October 16, 1994. p. 2. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  9. ^ Holmes, Alisa; A. Rathburn, Elizabeth (September 18, 2000). "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  10. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 4, 2002. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  11. ^ "Granite closes on Southern Tier TV station". Buffalo Business First. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  12. ^ "Nexstar completes station purchase". Dallas Business Journal. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  13. ^ New Vision Buys Montecito Stations Archived 2008-08-04 at the Wayback Machine Broadcasting & Cable July 24, 2007
  14. ^ Grego, Melissa (November 3, 2010). "EXCLUSIVE: Disney to Sell Two Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  15. ^ Exclusive: New GMs For Former ABC O&Os in Flint, Toledo Broadcasting & Cable. March 31, 2011.
  16. ^ "Gray Buys Stations in Flint, Toledo for $128M," from TVNewsCheck, 7/24/2014
  17. ^ McAdams, Deborah D. (February 2, 2015). "Gray Opens Washington, D.C. News Bureau". TV Technology. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on September 23, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  18. ^ Engle, Erika (May 13, 2015). "Local TV station sold". Hawaii Star-Advertiser. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  19. ^ "Assignment of License". Federal Communications Commission. July 10, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  20. ^ "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. September 10, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  21. ^ "WJAS/Pittsburgh Sold; Price for WFUN-F/St. Louis Spin-Off $8 Million".
  22. ^ Venta, Lance (April 12, 2019). "LILLY BROADCASTING ACQUIRES NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA TRIO". RadioInsight.com. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  23. ^ "New local television station opens in Downtown Ithaca". November 17, 2018.
  24. ^ "Erie News Now & WNY News Now Partner, Strengthening Regional Coverage". July 12, 2021.
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