Cox Media Group

Cox Media Group

Industry	Media
Founded	2008
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia
Products	Newspapers Radio stations Television stations
Parent	Cox Enterprises
Website	coxmediagroup.com

Cox Media Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, is an integrated broadcasting, publishing and digital media company that also includes the direct marketing company Valpak^[1] and the national advertising rep firms of Cox Reps.^[2] The company operations include 15 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, 86 radio stations,^[3] four metro newspapers,^[4] more than a dozen non-daily publications and more than 100 digital services. Cox Media Group is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Atlanta, Georgia.^[5]

In December 2008,^[6] Cox Enterprises created Cox Media Group (CMG) by merging Cox Newspapers,^[7] Cox Radio and Cox Television into one integrated digital media company. The creation of Cox Media Group was a departure from grouping subsidiaries based solely on publishing medium.^[8]

In August 2009, Cox Enterprises realigned its radio, television, newspaper/publishing, and digital assets into the same division.^[9] Under the new structure, while the local brands remain independent, they share resources and some management. Dayton, Ohio, was considered the prototype for the media group, where radio, television, newspaper, and direct mail were all in the same market and were combined into a new building.^[10] In other markets where the facilities aren't as close together, they do share some senior management; for example Houston & San Antonio Radio and the Austin American-Statesman newspaper all fall under the same regional vice president. In addition to the radio/TV stations and newspapers, Cox Media Group encompasses Cox Digital Solutions (digital sales for both Cox and non-Cox online and mobile properties), Cox Reps (national TV sales for station groups such as Gray and Gannett), Kudzu.com, Savings.com, and Valpak direct mail.^[11]

CMG introduced a new group buying discount program called DealSwarm in October 2010.^[12] DealSwarm provides online discounts at local businesses. The program is active in such Cox Media Group properties as Atlanta, Austin and Dayton.

In April 2013, CMG launched the online-only new site Rare.us as a conservative media source, originally with the tagline “Red is the Center” and more recently “America’s News Feed.”^[13] After initially-low audience numbers, the site expanded dramatically following more prominent use of social media and a more diverse range of stories.^[13]

In July, 2012 CMG announced its intention to sell its radio stations in smaller markets: Birmingham, Greenville, Hawaii, Louisville, Richmond, and Southern Connecticut. It also intends to spin off its smaller market television stations in El Paso, Johnstown, Reno, and Steubenville.^[14] The company said it intended to focus on larger markets or smaller markets that could be clustered together with other CMG properties. On February 12, 2013, CMG announced the sale of the Birmingham, Greenville, Hawaii, Louisville, and Richmond radio stations to Summit Media, and the southern Connecticut stations to Connoisseur Media;^[15] two weeks later, on February 25, the company announced the sale of the four television stations (and the local marketing agreement for a fifth) to Sinclair Broadcast Group.^[16]

Cox newspapers

Current holdings

• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia
• Austin American-Statesman, Austin, Texas
• Dayton Daily News, Dayton, Ohio
• Journal-News, Hamilton, Ohio
• Palm Beach Daily News, Palm Beach, Florida
• The Palm Beach Post, West Palm Beach, Florida
• Springfield News-Sun, Springfield, Ohio

Former holdings

CMG formerly held the majority stake in the cable TV network Travel Channel but spun it off to Scripps in 2009.^[17] The following newspapers were at one time owned by subsidiary Cox Newspapers Inc. or CMG:

Daily newspapers

• The Daily Advance, Advance, North Carolina
• Chandler Arizonan, Chandler, Arizona
• The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colorado
• The Daily Reflector, Greenville, North Carolina
• Longview News-Journal, Longview, Texas
• The Lufkin Daily News, Lufkin, Texas
• The Marshall News Messenger, Marshall, Texas
• Miami News, Miami, Florida
• Mesa Tribune, Mesa, Arizona
• Orange Leader, Orange, Texas
• Palo Verde Valley Times, Blythe, California
• The Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach, Florida
• Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas
• Rocky Mount Telegram, Rocky Mount, North Carolina
• Scottsdale Progress, Mesa, Arizona
• The Daily Sentinel, Nacogdoches, Texas
• Tempe Daily News, Tempe, Arizona
• Waco Tribune-Herald, Waco, Texas

Weekly newspapers

• Active Dayton, Dayton, Ohio
• Beaufort-Hyde News, Belhaven, North Carolina
• Bertie Ledger-Advance, Windsor, North Carolina
• Farmville Enterprise, North Carolina
• Perquimans Weekly, Elizabeth City, North Carolina
• Standard Laconic, Snow Hill, North Carolina
• The Chowan Herald, Edenton, North Carolina
• The Duplin Times, Kenansville, North Carolina
• The Enterprise, Williamston, North Carolina
• The Nickel-Grand Junction, Grand Junction, Colorado
• Times-Leader, Ayden-Grifton, North Carolina
• Weekly Herald, Robersonville, North Carolina

Cox Radio

Cox Media Group owns, operates or provides sales and marketing services to 57 stations in 20 markets. This radio portfolio includes 71 FM stations and 15 AM stations.^[18] Cox Radio became a public company, majority owned by Cox Enterprises, in 1996. Around April 2009, Cox Enterprises proposed a $69 million United States dollar takeover offer of Cox Radio. The offer expired on May 1, 2009.^[19] The offer was later raised to $4.80 a share, and the expiration was pushed to May 13.^[20] The offer was accepted, and the acquisition was completed on June 1.^[21] Through its syndication division, it also produces the Neal Boortz and Clark Howard programs, including one hour of Boortz that is exclusive to Cox-owned stations.^[22] Syndication of these shows to non-Cox-owned stations is handled by Dial Global Radio Networks.

Talk Shows

• Bubba The Love Sponge
• Neal Boortz (ending January 2013) *
• Clark Howard *
• Rick and Bubba (syndication handled by Syndicated Solutions)
• Herman Cain (returning January 2013) *
• *= Broadcast from Atlanta

Cox Radio-owned radio stations

• Note: **—indicates a station built and signed on by Cox.

Cox Television-owned television stations

Stations are listed in alphabetical order by state and city of license.

Note:

• (**) - Indicates a station built and signed on by Cox.

Current

Notes:

• ¹ Through a shared services agreement, Cox operates WJAX-TV, owned by Bayshore Television, LLC.
• ² Local news cable channel, airs on various different channels. Co-owned with Comcast.

Former

Notes:

• ¹ Co-owned with Knight Newspapers until 1962 in an equally-divided joint venture.
• ² KAME-TV owned by Ellis Communications, Cox operated this station, along with sister-station KRXI-TV.

Cox Television-owned cable channels

• 4SD (commonly referred to as Channel 4 San Diego & and also known as Channel 4 Padres or COX 4) - serves San Diego, California)
• Cox Sports Television - regional sports network serving the Gulf South region
• The Cox Channel - local origination cable channel based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; is operated by Cox Communications through its Oklahoma City and Tulsa-area cable television systems

References

External links

• Cox Media Group
• Company Homepage