Raycom Media

Raycom Media, Inc. is a US-based media company.

Overview

Raycom Media, Inc. company is legally a " Delaware corporation " with operational 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), a pension fund of employees of the State of Alabama. President and CEO Paul McTear is.

Business

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

In addition, Raycom distributes syndicated programs. This means that Raycom acquires for the non-local program units, for example, the national television shows and sporting events broadcast rights from the major network stations in the country, including CBS, NBC or FOX and belonging to the contractually respectively connected to one of the networks local affiliates as a licensee of the Raycom transmitters resold. In some regional leagues (such as the Atlantic Coast Conference, ACC) produced Raycom transfer even yourself and then syndicated it on.

Furthermore, organized Raycom show and sporting events and provides information technology support as well as designing and hosting web pages.

Subsidiaries

To Raycom group next to the transmitter operating companies include, in particular, the subsidiaries:

• Raycom Sports: syndicated broadcasting rights for sporting events. Headquartered in Charlotte ( North Carolina), offices in Sacramento ( California ) and Mobile ( Alabama).
• Broadview Media and Raycom Post Production in Los Angeles
• Cable Vantage in Columbia (South Carolina)

History

Origin of the group is the company Ellis Communications, founded in 1992 by Bert Ellis. This was already operating up to 13 television and two radio stations. In 1994, Ellis already 15 years existing sports marketing agency Raycom Sports (see subchapter Raycom Sports). In 1996, a project financed by the Pension Retirement Systems of Alabama media companies Ellis Communications and merged it with a few months before the Aflac insurance abgekauften 's broadcasting division to Raycom Media. 1998 merged with Raycom Media Malrite Communications, which operated in the Midwest and south of the country five stations. In August 2005 the Raycom agreed - then until February 2006 completed acquisition of the Greenville (South Carolina) established The Liberty Corporation with 15 stations in the south and the western United States for about one billion U.S. dollars. A short time later, however, some stations have been ( mostly from the Vorbestand the Raycom ) sold. In November 2007, Raycom announced its intention to take over the TV division of Lincoln Financial Media, a subsidiary of the Insurance and Investment Group Lincoln National Corporation, known. The $ 583 million dollar business comprised five television channels and the company Lincoln Financial Sports and was completed in early 2008.

Raycom Sports

Raycom Sports was founded in 1979 by husband and wife Nick and Dee Ray. In the early 1980s they went into a joint venture with Jefferson - Pilot under a change of name to Raycom / JP Sports. First, mainly broadcasting rights for the basketball and football competitions between university colleges were marketed. After the acquisition of Jefferson - Pilot by Lincoln Financial, Lincoln Financial Media from which arose the joint venture was renamed to Raycom / LF Sports. Unlike other rights marketers, the company also controlled most of the advertising in the broadcast being transmitted, and paid in return, the local customer for broadcasting. This strategy was risky, but ultimately led to great economic successes. After the 1994 merger, Raycom Sports of with Ellis Communications and the acquisition of Ellis through a project funded by Retirement Systems of Alabama media company Raycom Sports remained in each case an independent business unit; Finally, the name was adopted for the entire Raycom Media Group.

Transmitter

The 1960-1962 built Raycom America Tower Cape Girardeau, a Raycom Media belonging transmission tower of the local television company KFVS in Cape Girardeau, Missouri is 511.1 meters high. He was thus at the time of its completion the tallest building in the world; today ( early 2009 ), he is the seventh tallest building in the world. The broadcast programs it can be received not only in Missouri, but also in parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.

Also the tallest structure in the state of Ohio, who built in 1983 and 438 meter high radio mast WNWO Tower in Jerusalem ( Ohio), has been part of the merger of Malrite Communications with the Raycom Raycom Media.