Autumn Boatner
Headquarters Contact Info: 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30328
(678) 645-0000
Overview [1]
Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publication, direct marketing, and digital media company which is a part of Cox Enterprises that includes Cox Target Media. Cox Target Media operates two leading American companies which are Valpak (direct marketing), and savings.com (online savings). The company’s operations currently include 19 broadcast TV stations, one local cable station, 87 radio stations, eight daily newspapers and more than 100 digital services. CMG’s reach includes more than 30 media markets and 52 million Americans weekly, which includes 18 million radio listeners, 32 million TV viewers, and more than four million print and online newspaper readers.
2012 Key Metrics [2]
- Revenue: 1.9 Billion
- TV Stations: 19
- Local Cable Channels: 1
- Television Markets: 11
- TV Viewer Reach: 30+ million
- AM Radio Stations: 15
- FM Radio Stations: 72
- Radio Markets: 20
- Combined Weekly Radio Listeners: 18 million
The Business of Communications
A duopoly is a specific type of oligopoly where only two producers exist in one market. In context, Cox Media Group is a duopoly due to the fact that it is one of two firms with dominant control over the communications market. Cox Media Group is in the process of changing its structure as part of a new business strategy to sell off their stations in smaller markets. The broadcast realignment was announced in July 2012 by CMG President Doug Franklin following the purchase of duopolies in larger markets — Jacksonville, Fla., and Tulsa, Okla. — from Newport Television . [3] CMG’s strategy is focused on larger markets, cross-media collaboration, and heightened reach in fewer markets. “This simplified structure will enable CMG to capitalize on continued growth and synergies, while retaining its size financially,” said Franklin.
Simultaneously, CMG is realigning leadership structure to fit the new broadcast portfolio. Leadership changes in 2013 are as followed:
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January 11th – Romeo Solomon Named General Sales Manager at KICU-TV
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January 14th – Cox Media Group Appoints Matt Dalton as National Sales Manager of Long Island’s 106.1 WBLI-FM and 102.3 WBAB-FM
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January 30th – CMG Orlando Tammie McGrath promoted to Director of Sales for six stations [4]
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February 7th – CMG Tulsa Radio Promotes Matt Ledbetter to Director of Sales for Its Five Station Cluster [5]
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March 1st – Tom Calococci Joins CMG Miami as New Program Director East Coast
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March 8th – Cox Media Group Atlanta Names Adam Wolfson New General Sales Manager
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March 11th – Greg Bilte named general manager, Suzanne Nadell named News Director for CMG Tulsa
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March 13th – CMG Jacksonville Named Eric Lauer GSM, CMG San Antonio Names Jeff Garrison as New Program Director of Y100 [6]
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April 1st – Lee Rothenthal named News Director at KUTV in Indianapolis [7]
Consolidation
On February 12th, Cox Media Group announced the sale of radio stations in six markets to SummitMedia – a Birmingham, Ala.-based ownership group which includes David DuBose, Cox Media’s Birmingham Vice President and market manager.
Source: http://www.freepress.net/
Cox Media Group also sold three Southern Connecticut radio stations and contract rights for an additional station to Connoisseur Media based in Conn. Four stations were sold to Connoisseur and 21 stations were sold to Summit. In southern Connecticut, Cox sold WPLR-FM, WEZN-FM, WFOX-FM, and contract rights for WYBC-FM to Connoisseur Media for $40 million. SummitMedia paid $66.25 million for a number of stations in Birmingham, AL, Greenville, SC, Louisville, KY, Richmond, VA, and Hawaii, according to documents filed with the FCC. [8] As part of the broadcast realignment, Cox recently added four TV stations to its broadcast portfolio: WAWS-TV (fox) and WTEV-TV (CBS) in Jacksonville, Fl, and KOKI-TV (fox) and KMYT-TV (MyNetwork) in Tulsa, OK. [9]
Source: www.sbgi.net/
Sinclair Broadcast Group had the opposite strategy, and acquired four COX small television stations for $99 million on February 25th, 2013; the purchase was part of a string of over thirty acquisitions over the past year and a half. [10] They also purchased 18 stations from Barrington Broadcasting Group for 370 million. [11] Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. is a Hunt Valley, Maryland-based diversified television broadcast company. The four stations Sinclair purchased from Cox were:
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KFOX (Fox) El Paso, Texas DMA 91
WJAC (NBC) Johnstown-Altoona, Pa. DMA 102
KRXI (Fox) Reno, Nev. DMA 108
WTOV (NBC) Wheeling, W.Va.-Steubenville, Ohio DMA 158
FCC rules prohibit ownership of two stations in markets as small as Reno, Nev., therefore Sinclair plans on getting past this loophole by operating MNT affiliate KAME Reno under contract with a third-party licensee, Deerfield Media. [12] Sinclair said it expects to finance the deal through a bank loan, the deal will close in the second quarter and is pending FCC approval. Sinclair is arguably taking this strategy because there are less medium-sized stations for sale, but small stations provide large profits through local advertisements. [13] “Over the past 18 months, we have led the industry’s consolidation efforts in the mid-sized markets, purchasing 30 TV stations and creating over $400 million of equity value,” said David Smith, Sinclair President and CEO.
On March 4th, 2013, Broadcast stock analyst Marci Ryvicker and Wells Fargo Securities approved the Sinclair buy. “We like SBGI’s scale, leverage and opportunistic approach to M&A and anticipate there is more to come,” stated in an investor’s note. According to the note, Sinclair is paying a reasonable 4.6 times cash flow for Cox and 5.2 times for Barrington while maintaining a healthy debt profile of 5.1 times projected for the end of 2013. [14]
Other news concerning COX
Source: RadioInk.com
On January 18th, Cox Media Group made radio history with Tampa 97X by giving local listeners total control of the music by utilizing social media. Listeners chose songs they wanted to hear by selecting from over 1,800 songs listed on 97X app and website. The app gave listeners the ability to interact with an ‘Open Mic’ feature which enabled them to record and upload themselves introducing songs. [15]
On March 6th, Cox Media Group was accepted into the Google AdWords (TM) Premier SMB partner program. This partnership allows CMG to be a leading provider in digital marketing solutions for local and regional advertising clients. Premiere SMB partners meet Google’s highest criteria for qualification, transparency and customer service, which include completing extensive Google product and account management training to provide businesses with the most effective AdWords advertising solutions. In addition to in-depth AdWords knowledge, PSP partners provide campaign management, detailed reporting, one-on-one customer support, and broad marketing guidance to help advertisers make the most of their advertising campaigns. [16]
Sources
1 & 2. http://www.coxmediagroup.com/about/
3. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-02-26/business/bs-bz-sinclair-acquires-cox-stations-20130226_1_sinclair-plans-station-owner-stations-in-mid-sized-market
4. http://www.coxmediagroup.com/news/2013/jan/
5. http://www.coxmediagroup.com/news/2013/feb/
6. http://www.coxmediagroup.com/news/2013/apr/
7. http://www.coxmediagroup.com/news/2013/may/
8 & 9. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/193537/cox-sells-25-radio-stations.html#axzz2PoUSjKxl
10. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-02-26/business/bs-bz-sinclair-acquires-cox-stations-20130226_1_sinclair-plans-station-owner-stations-in-mid-sized-markets
11. http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/print-edition/2013/03/08/sinclair-broadcast-group-tuning-into.html?page=all
12.http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/65729/sinclair-buys-four-cox-tvs-for-nearly-100m
13. http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/print-edition/2013/03/08/sinclair-broadcast-group-tuning-into.html?page=all
14. http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/65893/ryvicker-gives-thumbs-up-to-sinclair-buys
15. http://www.coxmediagroup.com/news/cmg-press-releases/tampa-bays-97x-does-it-again/nTzz2/
16. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cox-media-group-selected-as-google-adwords-premier-smb-partner-2013-03-06