54-481: Act III may refer to: Companies, publications and brands [ edit ] Act III Broadcasting , a defunct American television broadcasting company Act III Theatres , an American movie theater chain acquired in 1998 by Regal Entertainment Group Act III Publishing , a defunct American Trade Magazine publisher active 1985-1991 Act III Communications , an American media and communications company Wyeth Act-3 ,
108-750: A UHF independent station in the New York City area. The station offered religious English-language programming in the mornings and Spanish programming weekday afternoons and evenings. On weekend afternoons, the station offered a variety of ethnic brokered programming. Under their ownership, the station phased out the ethnic shows in favor of more Spanish entertainment programming. In 1984, WNJU formed an alliance with Weigel Broadcasting 's WCIU in Chicago and locally owned KSTS in San Jose to acquire Spanish programming to air on all three stations under
162-682: A construction permit for channel 11 in Charleston. In early 1988, Act III acquired WZTV in Nashville, Tennessee , from Multimedia, Inc. , followed in late 1988 with its $ 12 million (equivalent to $ 27 million in 2023) acquisition of WUHF in Rochester, New York , from Malrite TV. In 1988, Act III bought out WRLH from Busse Communications, and also acquired WVRN 's assets, and integrated into WRLH's programming schedule, which effectively go dark by September, which claimed it
216-459: A Univision-owned station. These changes allowed WCIU to pursue sports rights and syndicated programming not previously available, ultimately giving WCIU some strength in the market. Weigel's MeTV format originated as a programming block that debuted on January 6, 2003, on television station WFBT-CA (channel 23) in Chicago , Illinois , an independent station that otherwise featured an ethnic programming format. In April 2008, Weigel completed
270-472: A clause in this deal stipulated that if TVX sold one of its underperforming stations, Fox could disaffiliate from that station. This was not the case in the Piedmont Triad, because WNRW's rival station WGGT (now WMYV ) was in bankruptcy, but it still ran a comparatively low-budget schedule. This solidified Act III's strategy of acquiring stations in mid-tier DMAs, with the added spin of affiliating with
324-494: A division or unit of a drama Act II (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Act III . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Act_III&oldid=1180253879 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
378-453: A drug composed of 'ibuprofen'; see Ibuprofen brand names LGP-30#ACT-III_programming_language , Librascope ACT-III programming language Music [ edit ] Albums [ edit ] Act III (Death Angel album) , 1990 Act III (The Seldom Scene album) , 1973 Act III: Life and Death , an album by The Dear Hunter, 2009 Act Three (G4 album) , an album by G4, 2006 See also [ edit ] Act (drama) ,
432-574: A foothold in each market, before programming the stations independently. Weigel would end up an unexpected beneficiary of the television industry realignment of 1994–95 . Full-power independent station WDJT-TV in Milwaukee, which had only signed on five years earlier, ended up with the CBS affiliation in late 1994. WBND-LP became the home of ABC programming in South Bend the next year. In both cases,
486-702: A joint venture with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . In early August 2008, Weigel agreed to sell all three of its South Bend stations, WBND-LP, WCWW-LP and WMYS-LP , to Schurz Communications , the longtime owner of the local CBS affiliate WSBT-TV , for undisclosed terms. However, in the absence of action by the Federal Communications Commission , the deal was called off in August 2009. Weigel launched You and Me This Morning , an Interstitial program lifestyle news program in fourth quarter (fall) 2009 on WCIU-TV 's first two subchannels. At
540-579: A network called NetSpan. Blair Broadcasting, which had just acquired WSCV in Miami and KVEA in Los Angeles and converted these into full-time Spanish independent outlets, joined the alliance in 1985. WNJU and KSTS would be sold in 1986 to Reliance Capital Group, which separately acquired Blair Broadcasting; the sale marked Lear and Perenchio's exit from the station business. The following year, Reliance would consolidate its Spanish-language holdings into
594-665: A part of the sale to Weigel. On October 18, 2017, Weigel agreed to acquire KAXT-CD and KTLN-TV , in San Francisco and KVOS-TV and KFFV in Seattle , from OTA Broadcasting in a $ 23.2 million deal. The Seattle deal was completed, while the San Francisco completion took until April 15, 2019, as both KAXT-CD and KTLN-TV are involved in a spectrum transition resulting from the 2016 FCC auction. On July 18, 2018, CBS Television Stations and Weigel Broadcasting announced
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#1732765655500648-427: A partnership between ABRY and Dan Sullivan, who had previously run Clear Channel Communications ' television station group. This record-setting valuation came despite Fox's policy of not allowing acquisitions that resulted in one company controlling more than eight Fox affiliates, which acted as a deterrent on some potential bidders. Sinclair Broadcast Group then bought Sullivan in 1998; Sinclair had also implemented
702-435: A partnership with Fox Television Stations to create a new digital subchannel network called Movies! , which is expected to debut on all of Fox's owned-and-operated stations in the spring of 2013. On May 13, 2013, Weigel announced that Tribune Broadcasting would take over operations of This TV on November 1, and that the channel would move to a WGN-TV subchannel following the changes. On July 1, 2013, Weigel premiered
756-497: A similar "roll-up" of independent stations a few years earlier, including the LMA strategy. Lear sold Act III Broadcasting for over $ 500 million (a 600% return on his original investment ), despite receiving a far lower estimate of $ 15 million only a few years earlier from Boston Ventures, a group that had sought to acquire the stations during the height of the 1990 recession. The Act III stations then became part of Sullivan Broadcasting,
810-683: Is currently airing a simulcast of WCIU-TV on WCIU digital subchannel 26.2. The new digital subchannel, The U Too , was officially launched on January 5, 2011. The new digital network will be airing on WCIU digital subchannel 26.2, replacing MeTV, which moved to WCIU digital subchannel 26.3 on December 15, 2010, and mainly consists of other purchased programming without room on the main WCIU schedule, second runs of WCIU programming or programming burned off due to low ratings. On January 4, 2011, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Weigel announced plans to distribute MeTV nationwide. On January 28, 2013, Weigel entered into
864-426: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Act III Broadcasting Act III Broadcasting was a company that owned several television stations that started as independents, and later became Fox affiliates. The stations were located in medium-sized DMA's (markets) and were primarily UHF stations. Act III Broadcasting was in business from 1986 to 1995 when it
918-620: Is on historical and factual programming and utilizes the library of the cable network History , expanding its non-fiction offerings beyond Through the Decades . On February 13, 2023, Weigel announced that Decades would be re-branded as Catchy Comedy on March 27, 2023. It will focus on classic sitcoms weekdays with comedy marathons on weekends. On December 29, 2023, CBS Media Ventures re-launched Dabl , pivoting it from lifestyle programming to Black-oriented sitcoms owned by their parent company Paramount Global . Weigel took over operations of
972-626: The Buffalo Sabres games, which WNYB obtained when the deal closed in 1990. With the deal, the Sabres received a minority stake in the new WUTV McGrath stepped down as chairman of Act III Broadcasting in 1990 when he left to join Time Warner as President of International. Bert Ellis continued the company's strategy into 1991. To obtain dominance in the Piedmont Triad, Act III embarked on another programming-buying deal in 1991. It bought
1026-545: The Denver market (many stations surrounding Denver have used cable and satellite carriage to take advantage of the larger market reach). September 1, 2019, saw WCIU-TV taking over the affiliation for The CW in Chicago as "CW 26", replacing Fox -owned WPWR-TV and resulting in the move of some programming and that station's former "The U" branding to WMEU-CD. In December 2019, Weigel agreed to purchase low-power WHCT-LD in
1080-471: The Greektown neighborhood. It currently owns 25 television stations, seven digital over-the-air television networks (most notably MeTV ), and one radio station. The company was founded by Chicago broadcasting veteran John Weigel, whose career dated back to the 1930s. With $ 1,000 of his own money and another $ 1,000 from his attorney, Daniel J. McCarthy, Weigel bought the broadcasting license for what became
1134-812: The Hartford, Connecticut market from Venture Technologies Group LLC for $ 1.5 million. On September 11, 2020, Weigel announced that it was buying WJFB in Lebanon, Tennessee (serving the Nashville television market), from HC2 Holdings for $ 5.5 million, pending FCC approval. On October 28, Weigel announced it will acquire KAZD in Dallas, KYAZ in Houston, KMOH-TV in Kingman, Arizona , and its Phoenix translator KEJR-LD from HC2, for $ 35 million. The sale of
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#17327656555001188-510: The New York / Tri-State market for the first time. On October 11, 2021, Weigel filed to acquire WJLP , licensed to Middletown Township, New Jersey and transmitting from 4 Times Square , from PMCM TV LLC for $ 62.5 million. In March 2022, Weigel filed to purchase Cleveland , Ohio -based W27EA-D . On February 14, 2022, Weigel announced that it would launch Story Television, a digital multicast network, on March 28, 2022. The network's focus
1242-668: The Arizona and Texas stations, which at the time of acquisition were all affiliated with Azteca América and later converted to MeTV owned-and-operated stations, was completed on December 29. All of the HC2 sales except for WJFB came with the move of the Azteca America affiliations to subchannels under long-term affiliation agreements with Weigel. On September 1, 2021, Weigel acquired WZME in Bridgeport, Connecticut , moving into
1296-483: The LMA concept back in 1991. Shortly afterwards, Sullivan announced that they would retain the Utica station WFXV and sister station WPNY-LD through his new company Quorum Broadcasting (which was eventually absorbed into what is now Nexstar Media Group in 2003). Although majority-controlled by Norman Lear, Act III Broadcasting was financed by a large group of other Wall Street interests and shareholders. The company
1350-499: The announcement of the purchase of KNLC in St. Louis , a religious station holding a commercial license, for $ 3.75 million. Many of its purchases since 2017 have been made through its LLC for WMLW. It sold that station's spectrum in the 2016 FCC auction for $ 69.7 million, with WMLW itself re-transitioning to the spectrum of WBME-CD. KNLC's former owners continue to maintain a right to the station's second subchannel to carry their schedule as
1404-517: The deal at the last minute. Fox then announced it was moving its affiliation to WZTV as of February. At the end of January, MT Communications and Act III made a revised deal, which allowed WXMT to keep barter cartoons and several low budget syndicated shows, giving WZTV all the cash programming, which included the better and more expensive shows, along with Fox programming. WXMT's daily schedule now featured home shopping for 15 hours, religion 3 hours, cartoons 3 hours, and low-budget shows 3 hours. While WXMT
1458-788: The end of 2009, Broadcasting & Cable gave Weigel its first annual Multi-Platform Broadcaster of the Year award. The company makes efficient use of digital TV's multicast capabilities, with one main channel and four subchannels for WCIU in Chicago, and MeTV and This TV on subchannels nationwide. On November 22, 2010, Weigel announced that they would take the MeTV concept national and compete fully with RTV and Antenna TV , while complementing its successful sister network This TV . On December 1, 2010, WCIU dropped their FBT foreign broadcasting digital subchannel (with some of that programming eventually to be moved to Polnet Communications' WPVN-CA ) and
1512-417: The entire program inventory of WGGT, the other general entertainment station in the market, and merged it onto WNRW's schedule. WGGT's owner, Guilford Broadcasters, agreed to simulcast WNRW's signal on WGGT, making WGGT a full satellite of WNRW. This created a strong combined signal (with over 60% overlap) which became known as the "Piedmont Superstation." For all intents and purposes, Act III's stations were now
1566-812: The fast-growing Fox network which was rapidly emerging as a force in Broadcasting. In 1987, it bought out its second station, WTAT in Charleston, South Carolina , from a local group led by Terry Trousdale, for $ 4.8 million (equivalent to $ 11 million in 2023). WTAT's acquisition included restructuring ownership to gain majority control, but retained the stations limited partners. On October 12, 1987, Act III acquired WRGT-TV in Dayton, Ohio , and WVAH-TV in Charleston, West Virginia , from Meridian Broadcasting for $ 22 million (equivalent to $ 51 million in 2023). The transaction also included
1620-411: The financial markets began to recover from the deep recession of 1990-92 and the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert. During the 1989-1991 period, virtually no takeover activity was undertaken and asset values in general experienced steep, if temporary, declines. Gaba and Lear successfully exited the broadcasting business with the sale of Act III Broadcasting to ABRY, closing in 1995. ABRY had embarked on
1674-472: The first UHF television station in the Chicago area. WCIU signed on the air on February 6, 1964. One year later, in 1965, the company was the subject of a successful hostile takeover at the hands of the Shapiro family. Over the years, the company began to acquire and also launch new stations in the adjacent markets of Milwaukee and South Bend , at first by placing WCIU translators in those markets to gain
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1728-463: The formation of Start TV , with plans to launch the network on Labor Day of that year (September 3). The network will focus on women-led police procedurals and procedural dramas . On May 30, 2019, Marquee Broadcasting agreed to sell KREG-TV (formerly a satellite of KREX-TV ) to Weigel Broadcasting for $ 2 million. Once the sale closes, the station will become an H&I owned-and-operated station, and likely be positioned as Weigel's station in
1782-408: The last VHF frequency in the market, channel 11. WVAH's signal on channel 23 was not strong enough to reach the entire market—a 61-county behemoth occupying rugged terrain in three states. The FCC granted the request, and WVAH moved to channel 11 on April 11, 1988. This sort of deal-making characterized Act III into 1990, a year when it made several innovative deals in 1990 that positioned its stations
1836-512: The launch of a new digital subchannel service called Decades , scheduled to launch on all CBS O&O stations in 2015. The channel will be co-owned by Weigel and CBS, with Weigel being responsible for distribution to stations outside CBS Television Stations . It will air programs from the extensive library of CBS Television Distribution , including archival footage from CBS News . On July 19, 2017, Weigel agreed to acquire Cedar City, Utah station KCSG for $ 1.1 million. The sale will convert
1890-628: The longtime affiliates of the networks in those markets — WITI in Milwaukee and WSJV in South Bend — switched to Fox , and the Weigel-owned stations secured 11th-hour affiliation deals after no other viable replacement affiliates surfaced. Also in that same year, WCIU dropped the Spanish-language Univision network and became Chicago's only true full-power independent station when WGN-TV and WPWR-TV joined The WB and UPN networks respectively, while WGBO-TV became
1944-431: The new Telemundo network, which is now owned by NBCUniversal . WCIU would be in that alliance for another year but retained by Weigel Broadcasting. Telemundo would eventually acquire Univision affiliate WSNS in Chicago, causing Univision to affiliate part-time with WCIU once again until it could buy WGBO in 1994. These early, primarily Spanish-language, stations are unrelated to the later Act III Broadcasting, which
1998-406: The new company. However, the deal fell apart shortly thereafter, with CEO Bert Ellis declaring the deal "dead as a doornail." Ellis left Act III in early 1992 to form Ellis Communications, and the group was put under the leadership of long-time Lear and Perenchio associate Hal Gaba. Gaba did not continue to growth of the group or conduct any acquisitions; instead, he focused on selling the group as
2052-467: The new subchannel service TouchVision, which provides a rolling news and information service designed for television, mobile and tablet platforms starting on WDJT-DT4, after Milwaukee real estate agency Shorewest Realtors ended their time-lease on the channel space to concentrate on an Internet on-demand channel instead. TouchVision was based out of Weigel's Chicago facilities under the LLC "Think Televisual", and
2106-575: The only general entertainment stations in their markets. In Nashville, WXMT (originally WCAY, now WUXP-TV ), then the Fox affiliate, had been sold by TVX in 1988 to Michael Thompson. Fox was considering executing its policy that no broadcaster could control more than eight Fox affiliates by pulling the Fox affiliation from WXMT and moving it to WZTV. In January 1990, Act III cut a deal in which WZTV would take all of WXMT's shows, leaving WXMT with only religious and home shopping shows. However, Thompson backed out of
2160-502: The only general-entertainment stations in their markets, except for Nashville. Bert Ellis left Act III in early 1992 to form Ellis Communications and continue to pursue station acquisitions eventually building a group of 13 TV stations, two radio stations and Raycom Sports . In the late 1980s Act III pioneered the concept of the local marketing agreement , or LMA for short. Under an LMA, one station would buy all or most of another station's broadcast day and take over its operations, but
2214-446: The other station would technically remain under separate ownership. The senior partner in the LMA would then program the other station with shows that it didn't have time to air. Act III, however, was not interested in this concept. It was the approval of the LMA concept that allowed Act III to consolidate ownership and control of programming in small markets, significantly enhancing the value of its stations. This revolution in broadcasting
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2268-454: The purchase of WJJA-TV in Racine, Wisconsin , which gave the company its second full-power station in the Milwaukee market. The station carried a local version of MeTV for four years before it and the independent format of low-power WMLW-CA were switched around in August 2012, becoming WMLW-TV . In July 2008, Weigel announced the creation of This TV , a national subchannel network, operated as
2322-543: The station in a H&I owned-and-operated station, though the possibility of Weigel's other networks being contained to it is also possible. It was Weigel's first station purchase outside of a state along Lake Michigan , as all of its properties were in Illinois , Indiana and Wisconsin . This sale closed December 5, 2017. On September 8, 2017, it was announced that Weigel agreed to purchase Los Angeles , California station KAZA-TV for $ 9 million. The same day also saw
2376-622: The two had researched the value of independent TV stations at great length, a strategy that was later realized with the launch of Act III. McGrath was promoted to vice president on December 12, 1987. Act III launched in early 1986; it made its debut by acquiring Fox affiliate WNRW in the Piedmont Triad from the TVX Broadcast Group , controlled by Gene Loving, for US$ 11 million (equivalent to $ 26 million in 2023). TVX had signed an affiliation deal with Fox;
2430-584: The voting interests. Prior to the sale in 1997/98 the company undertook various buyouts of minority interests which increased the Act III Communications/Lear stake to an undetermined, but higher level. Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license . Weigel Broadcasting Weigel Broadcasting Co. is an American television broadcasting company based in Chicago , Illinois , alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV (Channel 26), at 26 North Halsted Street in
2484-617: Was $ 7-$ 8 million. It was finalized by September 15. That same year, Act III mounted an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to acquire WDBD in Jackson, Mississippi , and WZDX in Huntsville, Alabama , from Media Central, Inc. formerly under the control of Mort Kent but then in Chapter 11 proceedings. In 1987, Act III successfully petitioned the FCC to allow it to move WVAH from channel 23 to
2538-462: Was considered a model of leveraged finance and resulted in a case study at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business . The eventual exit at over a 600% return on investment marks one of the most successful broadcast ventures in industry history. In 1991, it was reported that Lear, through Act III Communications, controlled 35% of the common stock of Act III Broadcasting and 80% of
2592-401: Was launched in late 1985. However, they are part of Norman Lear's early broadcast ownership experience. Act III Broadcasting was formed as a subsidiary of Act III Communications in 1986, controlled primarily by Norman Lear, who had just sold WNJU. It ran primarily under the leadership of Tom McGrath and Burt Ellis. McGrath and Ellis had met in 1984, when McGrath was with Columbia Pictures, and
2646-512: Was not eliminated as a competitor, it was left with a much weaker schedule. In Buffalo, Act III bought WUTV channel 29 in Buffalo from Citadel Communications in 1989, and merged all assets of WNYB into WUTV's programming schedule. Act III proceeded to get a duopoly waiver citing cross-ownership with existing WUHF in Rochester , which Act III then-recently acquired. Act III then restored its Fox affiliation to WUTV, as well as its rights to
2700-536: Was run by former radio and Tribune executive Lee Abrams and Brandon Davis. TouchVision ceased operations on January 14, 2016. On September 29, 2014, Weigel launched Heroes & Icons , a new digital subchannel which specializes in reruns of classic television series and films. Heroes & Icons, abbreviated H&I, aims to attract a generally male audience with shows from the genres of action, police, detective, western, science fiction, superhero, and war and military. On October 21, 2014, Weigel and CBS announced
2754-547: Was seeded by Lear, but quickly added the General Motors Pension Fund as a shareholder. Debt was provided by GE Capital . The company was comprehensively refinanced in 1989 with a $ 100m bond offering taken down by Prudential Insurance. The Prudential notes were themselves re-financed following the recovery from the 1989–92 recession , in 1993 at a lower rate. Act III's judicious use of leverage in an industry historically financed with limited partnerships
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#17327656555002808-517: Was sold to ABRY Partners/Sullivan Broadcasting for US$ 500 million (equivalent to $ 910 million in 2023). Television producer Norman Lear owned a controlling stake in Act III Broadcasting through his company Act III Communications . Prior to the formation of Act III, Lear had a history in television station ownership. Along with his longtime business partners Jerry Perenchio and Bud Yorkin , Lear acquired WNJU-TV ,
2862-543: Was succeeded by Hal Gaba in late 1990; Bill Castleman was succeeded by Dick Kantor and Blair Schmidt-Fellner was succeeded by John DeLorenzo and Warren Spector. Ellis left in early 1992 to form Ellis Communications. ABRY Partners, a Boston-based investment firm, already owned two Fox network affiliates when the company entered into an agreement to acquire Norman Lear's controlling interest in Act III Broadcasting in early September 1991. The remaining shareholders, including Prudential Insurance, agreed to roll over their shares into
2916-717: Was the first step in the FCC's eventual de-regulation of station ownership and the lifting of the 12-station cap on ownership that had existed for decades prior to Act III's initiatives. The management team of Act III Broadcasting from its formation in 1985 through 1991 consisted of Tom McGrath , Chairman who was president and chief operating officer of Norman Lear's holding company, Act III Communications ; U. Bertram Ellis, Jr. (aka Bert Ellis), chief executive officer; Bill Castleman, President and Chief Operating Officer; Dick Kantor, EVP and Head of Programming; and Blair Schmidt-Fellner as CFO. All of Act III's station acquisitions and other transactions were conducted during this period. McGrath
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