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Communications Corporation of America (also known as ComCorp) was a broadcasting company 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 ...
that owned
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
s in smaller markets. The company was headquartered in
Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette (, ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population and the 234th- ...
. It owned and/or operated 20 stations (counting satellite stations and those controlled via
local marketing 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 tim ...
s). The company began in 1989 and the next year, it purchased three television stations from Southwest MultiMedia Company of Houston:
KVEO KVEO-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Brownsville, Texas, United States, serving the Lower Rio Grande Valley as a dual affiliate of NBC and CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Harlingen, Texas, Harlingen-licensed ...
in Brownsville,
KPEJ KPEJ-TV (channel 24) is a television station licensed to Odessa, Texas, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Permian Basin area. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Nexstar M ...
in
Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
, and KWKT in
Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...
, and they purchased the license for WPFT in Baton Rouge, LA, which they signed on in 1991 as
WGMB WGMB-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station WBRL-CD (channel 21) and independent station KZ ...
. At one point, ComCorp was also an owner of
radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
s in its home market of Lafayette; it subsequently sold those stations to Regent Communications. In June 2006, ComCorp filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
. The company emerged from bankruptcy in October 2007 under the control of Silver Point Capital, who also controlled Granite Broadcasting. Local news on ComCorp's owned or managed stations are structured variably, with most stations not producing news in-house. As of May 2011, the only ComCorp owned-and-operated stations with in-house local newscasts are KTSM-TV and KETK-TV; two ComCorp managed stations, WVLA-TV and KDBC-TV also produce their own newscasts. Most of the remainder of the company's stations have their newscasts outsourced to other stations in the company portfolio: most of ComCorp's Fox stations in Louisiana and Texas have local newscasts produced by KETK (with the exception of WGMB in Baton Rouge, whose newscasts are produced out of area sister station WVLA); the newscasts for NBC affiliate KVEO-TV in Brownsville, Texas, though are produced by El Paso CBS affiliate KDBC-TV); the remainder of ComCorp's owned and managed stations, including CBS affiliate WEVV-TV (the only Big Three station in the group without any local news), do not carry news at all. On January 15, 2013, Communications Corporation of America put all of its 25 owned or managed stations up for sale, with investment firm Houlihan Lokey hired to assist in the exploration of sale options. On April 24, ComCorp announced that its entire group would be sold to Nexstar Media Group, Nexstar Broadcasting Group; KMSS-TV, KPEJ-TV and most of the ComCorp-managed stations that are owned by White Knight Broadcasting would be sold to Mission Broadcasting while WEVV-TV and White Knight Broadcasting's KSHV-TV would be sold to a female-controlled company called Rocky Creek Communications, with Nexstar assuming operational control of those stations. However, on June 6, 2014, Nexstar announced that it would instead sell KMSS & KPEJ to a new minority-owned company Marshall Broadcasting Group (marking the company's first television station acquisitions) for $58.5 million. Also on August 4, Nexstar announced that it would instead sell WEVV to Bayou City Broadcasting for $18.6 million. Mission & Rocky Creek would later withdraw its applications to acquire KFXK, KSHV & WVLA. The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.Consummation Notice
''CDBS Public Access'', Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 6 January 2015.
It was the last remaining TV station group that ''didn't'' have an American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate when sold; however, it had temporarily owned and operated current-Fox affiliate WHBQ-TV of Memphis during its last days as an ABC affiliate and managed KMLU, KAQY in Monroe, Louisiana during its first nine years as an ABC affiliate.


Former ComCorp-owned stations

* (**) – ''Indicates that it was built and signed on by ComCorp''. Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license. Footnotes: *1 This station was owned by Evansville Low Power Partnership and controlled by ComCorp. At the time, ComCorp held a 49 percent stake in Evansville Low Power Partnership. *2 Owned by White Knight Broadcasting, ComCorp operated these stations under a
local marketing 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 tim ...
. *3 ComCorp took over KADN under a
local marketing 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 tim ...
in 1997, but the station remained under the ownership of Charles Chatelain until ComCorp purchased it outright in 2004. *4 WNTZ had been acquired by White Knight Broadcasting in 1997, with ComCorp controlling the station; it was not transferred to ComCorp directly until 2007. *5 KDBC was operated by ComCorp under a shared services agreement. *6 ComCorp acquired the KETK license in 2004; however, it had operated the station since 1999, when it purchased the non-license assets from Sinclair Broadcast Group (which retained the KETK license until 2004). *7 This station was owned by KM Communications and controlled by ComCorp.


Radio stations


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Communications Corporation Of America Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Louisiana Companies based in Lafayette, Louisiana Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2006 Mass media companies established in 1989 Mass media companies disestablished in 2015 1989 establishments in Louisiana 2015 disestablishments in Louisiana 2015 mergers and acquisitions Nexstar Media Group