ACME Communications was a U.S.-based broadcasting company that was involved in operations of television stations and programming from the late 1990s to the year of 2013.

Company profile

ACME Communications was co-founded by Chairman and original CEO

Jamie Kellner Jamie Kellner is an American former television executive. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a division of Time Warner which includes TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network. Kellner took over the post in 2001 ...

, who previously served as a Fox Television Network executive and was founding CEO of

The WB Television Network The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

. Kellner used the name ACME as a play on the fictional

Acme Corporation The ACME Corporation is a name for the fictional corporation appearing in various Warner Bros. cartoon shorts, where it was used as a running gag due to their wide array of products that are dangerous, unreliable or preposterous. Origin The ...

featured in

Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

' '' Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner'' animated film series and other ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

'' media. In 2000, ACME Communications and Paramount Stations Group made a joint partnership. ACME will air UPN programs on WB affiliates, while WB programs appear on UPN's Columbus and Providence markets. The ownership portfolio of ACME Communications included television stations generally located in medium-sized U.S. media markets, all of which ACME obtained through acquisitions (save for one station in

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

that the company built from the ground up). All but one of ACME's stations were affiliated with The WB or converted to WB affiliation at purchase, likely playing on Kellner's previous relationship with that network. The ACME WB stations were among the first to line up affiliations with

The CW Television Network ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

when The WB and UPN amalgamated in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

;.Source: 3/9/2006 press release by ACME Communications posted on NASDAQ GlobeNewsWire
/ref> ACME's station portfolio reached a peak of 11 stations in the early 2000s, at which time ACME also ventured into program production with the 2002 launch of '' The Daily Buzz'', a syndicated daily morning news and information program that reached 180 markets at one point. During the early 2010s, ACME set forth on cost-cutting efforts involving its assets and an admitted "exit strategy" from the television business, including the following: *A licensing and consulting agreement with

Fisher Communications Fisher Communications was a media company in the United States. Based in Seattle, Washington, the company primarily owned a number of radio and television stations in the Western United States. It was the last company in the Seattle area to own ...

for ''The Daily Buzz'', announced in April 2010, that would see Fisher handle production of ''Buzz''. *A June 2010 agreement with LIN TV Corporation (with intent to purchase) involving stations in two markets where the companies had common ownership (

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

, and Green Bay-Fox Cities), where the LIN stations would provide operational, administrative, and joint sales services for the ACME stations. At the same time, LIN TV also entered into an agreement to provide some services (including third-party accounting) for ACME's duopoly in

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

. *A reduction and restructuring of its corporate staff, set forth in July 2010, that would see Jamie Kellner remain as company chairman but Doug taking over Keller's titles of President and CEO. Stan Gill, Vice President and General Manager of ACME's KWBQ-KASY duopoly in Albuquerque-Santa Fe, became COO while WBDT, Dayton, Ohio, Vice President and General Manager John Hannon was elevated to ACME's Executive Vice President. *The sales of its last remaining stations: single stations in

, Green Bay,

(all 3 in sales consummated in Spring 2011), and

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

(a February 2012 sale);"Byrne Grabs Acme's Madison CW Station,"
from ''Broadcasting & Cable'', 12/13/2011 as well as an

/ Santa Fe

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...

(September 2012)."Acme Sells Albuquerque Stations to Viall for $17.3 Million,"
from ''Broadcasting & Cable'', 9/11/2012 *The sale of ''The Daily Buzz'' to Mojo Brands Media in April 2013, which left ACME with no remaining broadcast assets and put the company into a closedown mode; ACME officially folded operations once it closed its outstanding accounts in December 2016.ACME Communications Announces Final Cash Distribution to Its Shareholders; Expects to Dissolve by December 31, 2016
ACME Communications, 20 December 2016, Retrieved 23 January 2017. ''The Daily Buzz'' itself was abruptly canceled April 17, 2015, when a Mojo Brands investor pulled their funding for the series.

Formerly owned assets

Programming

*'' The Daily Buzz'', a 3-hour-per-weekday morning news and information program geared towards young adult audiences. The show launched in 2002 from the studios of ACME-owned WBDT in Dayton, and from 2007 onward would originate from the studios of

Full Sail University Full Sail University is a private for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts. The school moved to Florida in 1980 and began ...

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was f ...

. The show was sold to Mojo Brands Media in April 2013, and was cancelled in April 2015. The show was revived in June 2017, but is now broadcast weekly.

Television 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 b ...

. With one exception, all the below listed stations were affiliates of

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

or its predecessor,

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

, during ACME Communications' ownership. The exception,

KASY-TV KASY-TV (channel 50) is a television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting alongside Santa Fe–licensed ''de facto'' CW owned-and-operated station KWBQ, channel 1 ...

, was affiliated with UPN and

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

(and was briefly an independent), and was part of a

with an ACME-owned WB/CW affiliate.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acme Communications Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Mass media in Orange County, California Companies based in Santa Ana, California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Mass media companies established in 1998 Mass media companies disestablished in 2016 1998 establishments in California 2016 disestablishments in California The WB