Northwest Broadcasting, Inc. was a television broadcasting company based in Okemos, Michigan, United States, a suburb of

Lansing Lansing () is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. It is the sixth-most populous city in Michigan with a popul ...

. The broadcasting group owned or operated twelve television stations in six markets, through subsidiaries such as Broadcasting Communications, Mountain Communications, Stainless Broadcasting, and Bristlecone Broadcasting.

History

Northwest Broadcasting was formed in 1995 by Brian Brady to acquire the television stations of Salmon River Communications, including

KAYU-TV KAYU-TV (channel 28) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Imagicomm Communications, the station has studios on South Regal Street in Spokane, and i ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, K68EB in

Yakima, Washington Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the state's 11th most populous city. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The ...

, KBWU-LP in the Tri-Cities ( Richland-

Kennewick Kennewick () is a city in Benton County, Washington, Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima ...

Pasco, Washington Pasco ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Washington, United States. The population was 77,108 at the 2020 census, and estimated at 80,038 in 2023. Pasco is one of three cities (the others being Kennewick and Richland) t ...

), and KMVU in

Medford, Oregon Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824, making it the List of cities in Oregon, eighth-most populo ...

. In 1997, Northwest purchased Stainless, Inc. for $17 million; while Stainless was primarily a manufacturer of broadcasting towers, the purchase also added

WICZ-TV WICZ-TV (channel 40) is a television station in Binghamton, New York, United States, affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Imagicomm Communications, the station has studios on Vestal Parkway East (NY 434) in Ves ...

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

and KTVZ in

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in central Oregon and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is located to the east of the Cascade Range, on the Deschutes River. The site became known by pioneers as a ford (cros ...

to Northwest's station group. Stainless had owned broadcast stations since purchasing WICZ (then known as WINR-TV) in 1971. Though Northwest would sell the Stainless tower company to SpectraSite Holdings in 1999 and KTVZ to

News-Press & Gazette Company The News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) is an American media company based in St. Joseph, Missouri, wholly owned and operated by the Bradley family. It is presided by Brian Bradley and David R. Bradley, with Hank Bradley (retired), Eric Bradley, ...

in 2002, it still owns WICZ-TV under the Stainless Broadcasting Company name. Brian Brady expanded his broadcast holdings in 2002, when he teamed up with Alta Communications to acquire the K-Six Television stations under the name Eagle Creek Broadcasting; Alta had also invested in Northwest Broadcasting in 1996. Alta divested its interest in Northwest Broadcasting in 2007 and in Eagle Creek Broadcasting in 2013. During the 2010s, Brady acquired additional stations through companies such as Blackhawk Broadcasting, Bristlecone Broadcasting, and Cedar Creek Broadcasting. These companies have occasionally made joint filings with Northwest Broadcasting in

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

proceedings under the name "The TV Station Group." In February 2019,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

reported that

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...

had agreed to acquire the entirety of Brian Brady's television portfolio, which it intends to merge with

Cox Media Group CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company p ...

(which Apollo is acquiring at the same time) and stations spun off from

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...

's purchase of

Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television station, television and radio stations thro ...

, once the purchases are approved by the FCC. In March 2019 filings with the

(FCC), Apollo confirmed that its newly-formed broadcasting group, Terrier Media, would acquire Northwest Broadcasting, with Brian Brady holding an unspecified minority interest in Terrier. In June 2019, it was announced that Terrier Media would instead operate as Cox Media Group, as Apollo had reached a deal to also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses. The transaction was completed on December 17."Cox Enterprises Announces Close of Cox Media Group Sale to Affiliates of Apollo Global Management"
prnewswire.com, December 17, 2019, Retrieved December 17, 2019.

Former stations

* Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and

city of license In U.S., 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 broadcast ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northwest Broadcasting Defunct television broadcasting companies of the United States Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Lansing, Michigan Mass media companies established in 1995 1995 establishments in Michigan 2019 disestablishments in Michigan Mass media companies disestablished in 2019 2019 mergers and acquisitions Cox Media Group