ION Media Networks
Type	Public (AMEX: ION)
Founded	West Palm Beach, Florida (1991)
Headquarters	West Palm Beach, Florida
Key people	R. Brandon Burgess, Dean M. Goodman
Industry	Broadcasting
Products	ION Television
Revenue	US$276.6 million (2004)
Employees	433 (2005)
Website	http://www.ionmedia.tv

ION Media Networks (formerly known as Paxson Communications) is an American television broadcasting company that owns and operates over 60 television stations in most major American markets. It is publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol ION. Image File history File links IONlogo. ... The American Stock Exchange (AMEX) is an American stock exchange situated in New York. ... Location of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Note: broadcasting is also a term for hand sowing. ... ION Television is a broadcast and cable television network first broadcast on August 31, 1998 under the name PAX TV (early on in its development, it was called PaxNet). ... Revenue is a U.S. business term for the amount of money that a company earns from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... A website (or Web site) is a collection of web pages, typically common to a particular domain name or subdomain on the World Wide Web on the Internet. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Note: broadcasting is also a term for hand sowing. ... This is a list of owned and operated stations of the i television network operated by ION Media Networks. ... The American Stock Exchange (AMEX) is an American stock exchange situated in New York. ...

History

Former Paxson logo

The company was founded in 1984 by Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson in Florida. Paxson purchased radio stations and a couple television stations, eventually becoming Florida's largest radio group. The stations ranged from rock to CHR to adult contemporary to news and talk. The television stations were network affiliates of ABC and NBC. In 1993 Paxson began to purchase stations on the outer fringes of large television markets. These stations would air ValueVision (now ShopNBC) shopping, infomercials, and religious programs. Image File history File links PAXLogo. ... Image File history File links PAXLogo. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Rock is a form of popular music with a prominent vocal melody accompanied by electric guitars, a bass guitar, and drums. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Top 40 (radio format). ... Adult contemporary music, frequently abbreciated to just AC, is a type of radio format that plays mainstream and pop music, without hip-hop or rap since, as per the name, it is geared more towards adults than teens. ... Talk radio is a radio format which features discussion of topical issues. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) operates television and radio networks in the United States and is also shown on basic cable in Canada. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... ShopNBC is an American broadcast and cable shopping network, owned by NBC Universal and based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. ... Infomercials are television commercials that run as long as a typical television program (roughly thirty minutes or an hour). ...

The company divested itself of both the radio group and major-network affiliated television stations in 1997, focusing on building its own independent network, PAX TV. As time went on Paxson bought mostly outer fringe UHF television stations along with a few typical signal UHF stations. Some examples of outer fringe stations included WBSX in Ann Arbor, Michigan (45 miles from Detroit), KXLI in St. Cloud, Minnesota (60 miles from Minneapolis), WTLK in Rome, Georgia (45 miles from Atlanta), and WAYK in Melbourne, Florida (60 miles from Orlando). Still in some markets Paxson bought stations that had the same type of signals as established stations with medium to high ratings. However, the stations all had specialty formats. These stations included WCFC in Chicago (religious), WTGI in Wilmington, Delaware (brokered), WAKC in Akron (Cleveland's secondary ABC affiliate),and channel 35 in Miami (infomercials and Shopping), among others. In the fall of 1997 a tentative lineup was announced and it included a family entertainment lineup of drama shows, movies, first run shows, wildlife shows, sitcoms, and talk shows. The most expensive buy was WBIS in New York City. This station was sold to Dow Jones and ITT in 1996 for nearly $200 million from the city government. In January of 1997 Dow Jones launched a business format called S+ during the day and a sports channel after 7 pm and on weekends. Dow Jones/ITT lost money on the operation, sold the station for about $225 million in May of 1997, and shut down S+ that June in favor of Bloomberg Business News, Fox Sports Net and a block previewing new networks, IntroTV. Channel 31 was renamed WPXN with plans to be the flagship station of PAX TV in the fall of 1998. All of the new PAX affiliates received call letters with "PX" in them, for example, WYPX (formerly WOCD) and WBPX (formerly WABU). For the railroad company, see Ann Arbor Railroad. ... St. ... Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. ... Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... Nickname: Chemical Capital of the World Motto: A Place To Be Somebody Coordinates: County New Castle County incorporated 1739 Mayor James M. Baker (D) Area    - City 44. ... Akron is the name of several places in the United States of America and Canada: Akron, Alabama Akron, Colorado Akron, Indiana Akron, Iowa Akron, Michigan Akron, New York Akron, Ohio Akron, Ontario Akron, Pennsylvania Akron Township, Illinois Akron Township, Michigan Akron Township, Big Stone County, Minnesota Akron Township, Wilkin County... Miami redirects here. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1613  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Dow Jones & Company NYSE: DJ, based in the United States, is a publishing and financial information firm. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... $, the dollar sign, is primarily used to represent currencies: Many different dollars Many different pesos Different escudos The Brazilian real The Tongan paanga The Nicaraguan córdoba $ may also be: $ (film), also known as Dollars A sigil (computer programming) Category: ... Dow Jones & Company NYSE: DJ, based in the United States, is a publishing and financial information firm. ... Sports channels are television specialty channels (usually available exclusively through cable and satellite) broadcast sporting events, usually live, and when not broadcasting events, sports news and other related programming. ... Bloomberg Television is the name of a number of cable television networks around the world that broadcast business and financial news 24 hours a day. ... Fox Sports Net headquarters in Los Angeles. ... WYPX is a broadcast television and radio station in Albany, New York. ... WBPX, channel 68, is the i television station owned by Paxson Communications, serving the Boston market. ...

PAX launched in 1998 with family dramas like Life Goes On, Touched By An Angel, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Highway To Heaven, and Bonanza, game shows such as Family Feud, Pyramid, Supermarket Sweep, and Shop 'Til You Drop, two sitcoms Dave's World and The Hogan Family, and some movies. The network ran weekdays from noon until 1 am. Morning shows consisted of infomercials and other local shows. Overnights, PAX TV ran contemporary worship music. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Touched by an Angel was an American drama/fantasy television series created by John Masius and Martha Williamson that ran on CBS for nine seasons, from September 21st, 1994, until April 27th, 2003, and aired in many countries all around the world. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Highway to Heaven was a television drama which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989. ... The Bonanza logo was superimposed upon a map of a wild west frontier area. ... It has been suggested that Family Feud Broadcast History (United States), Family Feud in popular culture, Family Feud rules and production, Family Feud around the world be merged into this article or section. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Supermarket Sweep was a game show that originated on the ABC Network from December 20, 1965 to July 14, 1967. ... Shop Til You Drop is an American game show which has aired on a number of cable television networks and in syndication. ... Daves World was a 1993–1997 CBS sitcom that was based on the writing of Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry. ... The Hogan Family was an American television situation comedy that aired from March 1, 1986 to July 20, 1991. ... Worship music is a style of Christian music that is commonly used to denote songs that are used to worship God and set in a choral music style, usually with repeating, short, easily sung chorus parts. ...

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Paxson Communications wanted to buy WPCB, channel 40, from Cornerstone Television, and move the license to channel 16 (which was, and still is, occupied by WQEX), with channel 40 used for educational purposes. The two agreed on a purchase price, but the Federal Communications Commission had too many questions about the deal, most relating to the type of broadcast license to be operated on each channel, and it fell through. Nickname: Steel City, Iron City, City of Champions, City of Bridges, City of Colleges, P-Burgh, The Burgh Motto: Benigno Numine Location in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Allegheny County Founded 1758 Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (D) Area    - City 151. ... WPCB is an independent Christian UHF station in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania DMA. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 40, and its digital signal on UHF channel 50. ... The Cornerstone Television Network is a minor over-the-air television broadcast network in the United States. ... WQEX-TV is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... The FCCs official seal. ...

In 1999, Paxson Communications sold 22 percent of its operation to NBC, and most PAX stations rebroadcast local news from the NBC affiliate in those cities. On September 11, 2001, PAX interrupted regular programming to air news on the attacks on America from NBC News. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... NBC (an abbreviation for National Broadcasting Company, its former corporate name) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... This article is about the date September 11 in general. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The World Trade Center on fire The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. ... NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. Its current president is Steve Capus. ...

Due to low ratings and mounting financial costs, PAX TV reduced its hours. In 1999, they were reduced to between 3 pm and midnight, and in 2002, they were reduced again to 6 pm to midnight. For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

In November 2005, to settle several lawsuits between Paxson Communications and NBC Universal (NBCU), Lowell Paxson granted NBCU an 18-month transferrable option to purchase his shares of the company in an agreement which, if activated, would also trigger a sale of the rest of the company. If Mr. Paxson's shares of the company aren't sold in the option window, the company is obligated to buy them back from Mr. Paxson. As part of the deal, Mr. Paxson left the company, to be replaced as CEO by NBCU executive R. Brandon Burgess. Ongoing events • Abramoff-Reed gambling scandal • Al Jazeera bombing memo • Avian influenza (H5N1) outbreak • Black sites scandal • Conservative leadership race (UK) • Fuel prices • Irans nuclear program • Jilin chemical plant explosions • Kashmir earthquake • Malawi food crisis • Malaysian prisoner abuse scandal • New Delhi bombings investigation • Niger food crisis • North Indian cyclone... NBC Universal is a media and entertainment conglomerate formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electrics NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, part of Vivendi Universal. ...

In 2006, Paxson Communications changed its name to ION Media Networks. 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• List of stations owned and operated by ION Media Networks
• List of ION Television affiliates

This is a list of owned and operated stations of the i television network operated by ION Media Networks. ... This is a list of ION Television (formerly i) affiliates, arranged alphabetically by state. ...

References

• Corporate website
• Stock investment information