Company type | Public |
---|---|
Industry | Television Broadcasting & Production |
Founded | 1997; 27 years ago (1997) |
Defunct | December 11, 2012; 11 years ago (2012-12-11) (stations) December 31, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-12-31) (officially) |
Fate | Dissolved |
Headquarters |
,
United States
|
Key people |
|
Number of employees | 141[1] |
ACME Communications was a U.S.-based broadcasting company that was involved in operations of television stations and programming from the late 1990s to 2013.
ACME Communications was co-founded by chairman and original CEO Jamie Kellner, who previously served as a Fox Television Network executive and was founding CEO of The WB Television Network. Kellner used the name ACME as a play on the fictional Acme Corporation featured in Warner Bros' Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner animated film series and other Looney Tunes media. In 2000, ACME Communications and Paramount Stations Group made a joint partnership. ACME will air UPN programs on WB affiliates, while WB programs appear on UPN's Columbus and Providence markets.[2]
The ownership portfolio of ACME Communications included television stations generally located in medium-sized U.S. media markets, all of which ACME obtained through acquisitions (save for one station in Knoxville that the company built from the ground up). All but one of ACME's stations were affiliated with The WB or converted to WB affiliation at purchase, likely playing on Kellner's previous relationship with that network. The ACME WB stations were among the first to line up affiliations with The CW Television Network when The WB and UPN amalgamated in 2006;.[3] ACME's station portfolio reached a peak of 11 stations in the early 2000s, at which time ACME also ventured into program production with the 2002 launch of The Daily Buzz, a syndicated daily morning news and information program that reached 180 markets at one point.[4]
During the early 2010s, ACME set forth on cost-cutting efforts involving its assets and an admitted "exit strategy" from the television business,[5] including the following:
Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license. With one exception, all the below listed stations were affiliates of The CW or its predecessor, The WB, during ACME Communications' ownership. The exception, KASY-TV, was affiliated with UPN and MyNetworkTV (and was briefly an independent), and was part of a duopoly with an ACME-owned WB/CW affiliate.
City of license / Market | Station | Channel | Years owned | Current status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fort Myers–Naples, FL | WTVK | 46 | 1998–2007 | The CW affiliate WXCW, owned by Sun Broadcasting, Inc.[a] |
Decatur–Champaign/Urbana–Springfield, IL | WBUI | 23 | 1999–2007 | The CW affiliate owned by GOCOM Media, LLC[b] |
St. Louis, MO | KPLR-TV | 11 | 1997–2003 | The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
Albuquerque–Santa Fe, NM | KWBQ | 19 | 1999–2012 | The CW affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting[c] |
KASY-TV | 50 | 2000–2012 | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting[c] | |
Roswell, NM | KRWB-TV[d] | 21 | 1999–2012 | The CW affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting[c] |
Springfield–Dayton, OH | WBDT | 26 | 1999–2011 | The CW affiliate owned by Vaughan Media[c] |
Salem–Portland, OR | KWBP | 32 | 1997–2003 | The CW affiliate KRCW-TV, owned by Nexstar Media Group |
Crossville–Knoxville, TN | WBXX-TV | 20 | 1997–2011 | The CW affiliate owned by Gray Television |
Ogden–Salt Lake City, UT | KUWB | 30 | 1999–2006 | The CW affiliate KUCW, owned by Nexstar Media Group |
Suring–Green Bay, WI | WIWB/WCWF | 14 | 1999–2011 | The CW affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
Janesville–Madison, WI | WBUW | 57 | 2002–2012 | Ion affiliate WIFS, owned by Byrne Acquisition Group, LLC |