Barrington Broadcasting


Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, was an American corporation focused on broadcast television, primarily in middle and small size media markets. Barrington was owned or operated via duopoly twenty-four television stations, with the potential to reach about 3.4 percent of households in the U.S. It was owned by Pilot Group, a private equity firm.

History

Barrington Broadcasting is a media company that was established in May 2003 by a team of former executives from Benedek Broadcasting. Following Benedek's bankruptcy and subsequent divestiture of all television assets in 2002, K. James Yager, the former President, along with Senior Vice-Presidents Chris Cornelius, Keith Bland, and Mary Flodin, formed a company for medium and small market broadcasting.
The company began operations in January 2004 with its purchases of former Benedek stations WHOI-TV and KHQA-TV along with WEYI-TV in Vienna Township, Michigan. Barrington grew slowly at first, adding five more stations between 2004 and early 2006. A major expansion took place on March 27, 2006, when Raycom Media agreed to sell twelve of its network-affiliated TV stations to Barrington for $262 million. The sale was completed on August 11. In recent years, Barrington has been at the forefront of integrating social media and the internet into their on-air content.
In late 2012, it was announced that Pilot Group had put Barrington up for sale and that both Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group were in final talks to acquire the full regiment of stations. On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced that it would sell its stations to Sinclair. The sale was granted FCC approval on November 18. The transaction was formally consummated on November 25.

Former stations

Media marketStateStationPurchasedSoldNotes
Colorado Springs–PuebloColoradoKXRM-TV20062013
Colorado Springs–PuebloColoradoKXTU-LD20062013
AlbanyGeorgiaWFXL20062013
Peoria–BloomingtonIllinoisWHOI20042013
QuincyIllinoisKHQA-TV20042013
MarquetteMichiganWLUC-TV20062013
Saginaw–Bay City–FlintMichiganWEYI-TV20042013
Saginaw–Bay City–FlintMichiganWBSF20042013
Sault Ste. Marie, MIMichiganWGTQ20092013
Sault Ste. Marie, MIMichiganWTOM-TV20062013
Traverse CityMichiganWGTU20092013
Traverse CityMichiganWPBN-TV20062013
Columbia–Jefferson CityMissouriKRCG20052013
KirksvilleMissouriKTVO20062013
ClovisNew MexicoKVIH-TV20052013
SyracuseNew YorkWSTM-TV20062013
SyracuseNew YorkWTVH20092013
SyracuseNew YorkWSTQ-LP20062013
ToledoOhioWNWO-TV20062013
ColumbiaSouth CarolinaWACH20062013
Florence–Myrtle BeachSouth CarolinaWPDE-TV20052013
Florence–Myrtle BeachSouth CarolinaWWMB20052013
AmarilloTexasKVII-TV20052013
Harlingen–McAllen–BrownsvilleTexasKGBT-TV20062013