| Industry | Television stations |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Bill Fielder |
| Headquarters | Cumming, Georgia, United States |
Area served | United States (nationwide) |
Key people | Bill Fielder (CEO) |
| Services | Broadcasting |
| Owner | Bill Fielder |
| Website | coastaltvgroup |
Coastal Television Broadcasting Group, LLC[1] is an American television broadcasting company based in Cumming, Georgia. It was founded in 2007 by Bill Fielder.[2][3] The company owns and/or operates television stations in 11 markets in 7 states; from as large as Tupelo, Mississippi, to as small as the fourth-smallest media market, Juneau, Alaska. It also operates stations owned by Vision Alaska, LLC[4] and Big Horn Television, LLC[5] (both also based in Cumming, Georgia).
History
Beginnings and starting presence in Alaska (2007-2014)
Coastal Television was founded as Coastal Television Broadcasting Group, LLC in 2007 by Bill Fielder in Cumming, Georgia. Fielder had previously served as CFO at Gray Television; and oversaw Gray becoming listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).[6]
On August 29, 2007, Coastal announced that it intended to acquire Fox affiliate KTBY channel 4 in Anchorage, Alaska for $3,242,500.[7] The sale was completed on May 7, 2008.[1] Fielder went to work and began getting the station on the right foot. In a few years, the station became profitable and successful. In 2013, however, Coastal was fined $4,200 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for failing to update ownership information about KTBY's antenna structure; which was eventually updated.
In 2010, Vision Alaska, LLC (a new company based in Raleigh, North Carolina) acquired all three of Alaska's ABC affiliates: KYUR channel 13 in Anchorage, KATN channel 2 in Fairbanks, and KJUD channel 8 in Juneau for $5.75 million.[8] The sale was completed on May 13, 2010[9] and soon after, Coastal agreed to operate KYUR under a shared-services agreement and joint-sales agreement,[10][11] and KATN and KJUD under time-brokerage agreements;[2] [3] [4] this made them sister stations to KTBY.
Expansion to the Continental U.S. and growth (2014-present)
On October 7, 2015, Coastal announced its intent to acquire Tupelo, Mississippi Fox affiliate WLOV-TV channel 27 for an undisclosed price with hopes for the deal to be approved by the FCC in early 2015. This was concurrent with the sale of dual NBC/ABC affiliate WTVA channel 9 from the Spain Family to Atlanta, Georgia—based Heartland Media.[12] WTVA had been in local marketing agreements with WLOV-TV since 1992. The sales were completed on February 11, 2015[13] and the local marketing agreement was preserved; allowing Coastal to expand outside of Alaska and into the Continental U.S.. Allen Media Broadcasting later acquired 11 Heartland stations, including WTVA, in 2020[14]; and renewed the LMA with WLOV-TV.
On October 8, 2019, Coastal announced its intent to acquire Casper, Wyoming Fox affiliate KFNB channel 20 (as well as its satellites in Rawlins and Riverton) and MyNetworkTV affiliate KWYF-LD channel 20; in addition to Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox affiliate KLWY channel 27 from Wyomedia Corporation. This was concurrent with the purchase of Casper ABC affiliate KTWO-TV channel 2 and Cheyenne ABC affiliate KKTQ-LD channel 16 by Vision Wyoming, LLC (a subsidiary of Vision Alaska) from Silverton Broadcasting; and the purchase of Casper CBS affiliate KGWC-TV (as well as its satellites in Lander and Rock Springs) by newly-founded Big Horn Television (led by Michael Hogan) from Mark III Media.[15] The sale was completed on June 1, 2020 for an undisclosed price.[16] Coastal soon began operating the stations owned by Vision Alaska and Big Horn under shared-services agreements.
Throughout 2020, Coastal began cutting local newscasts and staff from its Alaska and Wyoming stations and replacing them with anchors and content from NewsNet, based in Michigan.[17] Coastal later stated that this was due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] The Alaska stations recieved the change in April; it didn't come to Wyoming until July.
In July 2021, Coastal announced that it would acquire nine television stations from Waypoint Media for $36.9 million. This included low-power Fox/CBS/MyNetworkTV affiliates KJNB-LD and KJNE-LD (channels 39 and 42, respectly) in Jonesboro, Arkansas, dual Fox/NBC affiliate WGBC channel 30 in Meridian, Mississippi, low-power NBC/The CW/MyNetworkTV station WNBJ-LD channel 39 in Jackson, Tennessee, low-power ABC/MyNetworkTV The sale was completed on January 4, 2022.
History
Coastal Television was founded in 2007 by Bill Fielder.
- ^ "Coastal TV Group". Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "Coastal Television Broadcasting Group, LLC". LinkedIn. July 18, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "Coastal Television Broadcasting Group, LLC Overview". SignalHire. July 18, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "VISION ALASKA OF ANCHORAGE LLC | Alaska Company Directory". www.alaskacompanydir.com. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "Big Horn Television LLC". opencorporates.com. July 18, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "Get to know State Senate candidate Bill Fielder". Bill Fielder | Republican in Forsyth. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ RBR.com (August 29, 2007). "Alaskan Fox affiliate sold | Radio & Television Business Report". Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ RBR-TVBR (January 15, 2010). "Alaska TV group sold | Radio & Television Business Report". Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "CDBS Print". licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). web.archive.org. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). web.archive.org. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ Malonepublished, Michael (October 9, 2014). "Coastal Television Broadcasting to Acquire WLOV Tupelo". Broadcasting Cable. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "CDBS Print". licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ Miller, Mark (October 1, 2019). "Byron Allen Buying 11 Stations For $290M". TV News Check. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ Learned, Nick LearnedNick (October 9, 2019). "21 Wyoming TV Stations to be Sold in 3 Transactions". K2 Radio. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "CDBS Print". licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ Learned, Nick LearnedNick (June 23, 2020). "Casper's K2TV Fires Anchors, Scraps Some Local Newscasts". K2 Radio. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ Learned, Nick LearnedNick (July 3, 2020). "Wyoming's K2 Television Ends 'Good Morning Wyoming,' New Show Starts Monday". K2 Radio. Retrieved July 18, 2023.