Bonten Media Group was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based owner of television broadcast stations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was formed by Randall D. Bongarten and

Diamond Castle Holdings Diamond Castle Holdings is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies across a range of industries including the media, healthcare, financial services, power and industrial sectors. ...

in November 2006. Its first acquisition was 14 stations from Bluestone Television, founded by Sandy DiPasquale and

Providence Equity Partners Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. is a specialist private equity firm, private equity investment firm focused on media, communications, education, technology investments across North America and Europe. The firm specializes in growth-oriented pri ...

(who would later form

Newport Television Newport Television, LLC was a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. History In September 2007, Newport ag ...

) on May 31, 2007. Bluestone had acquired the same stations from Lamco Communications in 2004. On January 1, 2008, Bonten entered into an agreement with Esteem Broadcasting to provide services to the Fox affiliates ( WFXI/WYDO) in the Greenville-New Bern market, in addition to

WEMT WEMT (channel 39) is a television station licensed to Greeneville, Tennessee, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Tri-Cities area. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with ...

in the Tri-Cities area of Northeastern

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and Southwestern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, bringing the number of stations which Bonten Media Group owns or provides services up to 16 from 13. On April 21, 2017,

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...

announced its intent to purchase the Bonten stations for $240 million. The deal came immediately following the re-instatement of the "UHF discount", which reduces the calculated "reach" of a station for the purposes of national ownership limits if it broadcasts on a UHF channel. The sale was approved on June 30, and the sale was completed on September 1.Consummation Notice
''CDBS Public Access'',

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

, Retrieved 6 September, 2017.

Former Bonten Media-owned stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

. Note: *¹ Owned by Esteem Broadcasting, LLC, Bonten operated these stations through a

shared services agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or time ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonten Media Group, Llc Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Companies based in New York City Sinclair Broadcast Group Mass media companies established in 2006 Mass media companies disestablished in 2017 2017 mergers and acquisitions

Former Bonten Media-owned stations

See also

References