Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United States in 113 markets. Its station base consists of all ranges of media markets, from as large as Atlanta, to one of the smallest markets, North Platte, Nebraska.
Formerly
Gray Communications Systems, Inc.
- NYSE: GTN
- NYSE: GTN.A
- Russell 2000 Component (GTN)
1946
- United States
- 113 Markets in 39 states
- Reach: 36%
- Hilton H Howell, Jr.
- (Executive chairman, CEO)
- Pat LaPlatney
- (President, Co-CEO)
180 terrestrial TV stations
$3.28 billion USD (2023)
$383 million USD (2023)
$128 million USD (2023)
US$10.64 billion USD (2023)
US$2.62 billion USD (2023)
8,018 (2019)
On July 22, 2009, a New York bankruptcy judge approved a plan transferring ownership of Young Broadcasting and its stations to the company's secured lenders. The plan included Gray Television coming in as an outside party to advise on the operations of Young-owned stations in seven markets through December 2012. The new Young Broadcasting still held the final say on overall operations for their stations, including programming and personnel.[16][18]
The former Young-owned stations managed by Gray Television include:
Young Broadcasting would retain ownership of all its stations, including three stations that Gray would not operate: KRON-TV in San Francisco, California, WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, and WLNS-TV in Lansing, Michigan, the latter two due to Gray already owning stations in those markets. Gray considered the possibility of purchasing the Young stations if the group went on the market.[72]
The agreement ended without any further extensions on December 31, 2012, and Young agreed to a merger with Media General in mid-2013. Gray would eventually purchase KWQC and WBAY outright when Nexstar Broadcasting Group acquired Media General in 2017, as Nexstar already owned WHBF-TV and WFRV-TV in each market.[35][36] At that time, Gray had already acquired Sioux Falls rival station KSFY. Gray would also re-enter the Richmond market when it bought WWBT in 2019, following its merger with Raycom Media, and would also re-enter the Nashville market in 2021 with WSMV-TV after acquiring the television assets of Meredith Corporation.[45]
