Intermountain West Communications Company

Intermountain West Communications Company
Company typePrivate
Industry
FoundedOctober 1, 1979 (1979-10-01)
Defunct
  • January 9, 2018 (2018-01-09)
  • (38 years, 100 days)
FateDissolved
Headquarters
Las Vegas, Nevada
,
U.S.
ProductsBroadcast television
OwnerJames E. "Jim" Rogers

Intermountain West Communications Company was an American telecommunications company, formerly owned by James E. Rogers (1938–2014), that remains as the licensee company for a number of local television stations in the United States, operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group and subsidiary companies Howard Stirk Holdings and Cunningham Broadcasting. The company was known for its liberal leaning.

Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, IWCC was founded on October 1, 1979, following the purchase of KORK-TV, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas, by local attorney James E. Rogers and 16 Las Vegas residents. KORK-TV was renamed KVBC after taking control and KSNV-DT (now KSNV) on July 9, 2010, and Rogers expanded Sunbelt's reach to include other stations in Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming. In 2008, Sunbelt was renamed Intermountain West Communications Company; Rogers was at his summer home in Montana when he was asked about the "SUNBELT" license plate on his car when Montana wasn't a Sun Belt state.[1] Most of IWCC's stations, prior to the gradual sale of them that began in 2013, were NBC affiliates.

On September 3, 2014, Intermountain West Communications announced that it would sell KSNV-DT to Sinclair Broadcast Group for $120 million. As Sinclair already owned a duopoly in Las Vegas, KVMY (channel 21) and KVCW (channel 33), the company planned to sell the license assets (though not the programming) of one of the three stations to comply with FCC ownership restrictions, with the divested station's programming being moved to the other stations.[2] 80–85% of proceeds from the sale will go toward the formation of the Rogers Educational Foundation, which supported students and educators in Southern Nevada.[3]

On November 1, 2014, KSNV began the process of swapping signals with KVMY; KVMY moved its MyNetworkTV programming to a subchannel of KVCW, which was replaced by a simulcast of KSNV-DT's programming. Additionally, the two stations swapped virtual channel numbers, which moved KVMY to channel 3, and KSNV to channel 21. On November 4, 2014, the call letters on KVMY's license were changed to KSNV, and the existing KSNV license changed its call letters to KVMY. These moves effectively put KSNV under Sinclair ownership using its existing channel 21 license. The previous channel 3 license was later sold to Howard Stirk Holdings.[4][5] A similar swap occurred during Sinclair's acquisition of WCIV, in which its ABC programming and call sign were moved to another Sinclair-owned signal, and the previous WCIV channel 4 license (renamed WMMP) was sold to Howard Stirk Holdings, though the PSIP channel number was not swapped.[6][7] When the sale closes, Sinclair would control half of those stations. It also created a situation in which a CW affiliate is the nominal senior partner in a duopoly involving an NBC affiliate and a "Big Four" station.[8][9][10]

The company would remain as a technical going concern operating two stations until January 9, 2018, as the sales of KRNV-DT and KENV-DT were held up in the FCC due to unknown factors; both stations would eventually be sold instead to Cunningham Broadcasting, a company related to Sinclair that holds the licenses, with Sinclair operating the stations through joint operations and shared services agreements. The sale was approved on September 22, 2017,[11] and completed on January 9, 2018.[12]

  1. ^ Clarke, Norm (January 5, 2014). "TV owner Jim Rogers has second battle with cancer". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  2. ^ "Sinclair Buying KSNV Las Vegas For $120M". TVNewsCheck. September 3, 2014. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  3. ^ "KSNV Vegas Proceeds To Fund Education Foundation". Broadcasting & Cable. September 3, 2014. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  4. ^ "Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. January 28, 2015. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  5. ^ "Call Sign History (facility ID 69677)". CDBS Public Access. FCC. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  6. ^ "DESCRIPTION OF TRANSACTION AND UNIQUE SERVICE TO BE PROVIDED". Howard Stirk Holdings. Archived from the original on September 16, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  7. ^ "Time to rescan for ABC News 4's new channel". ABCNews4.com. Sinclair Broadcast Group. September 25, 2014. Archived from the original on September 27, 2014. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  8. ^ "KRNV-TV Sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group". KTVN Channel 2 News. November 22, 2013. Archived from the original on November 26, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  9. ^ Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License Archived December 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved December 19, 2013
  10. ^ Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License Archived December 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved December 19, 2013
  11. ^ Notice. CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, September 22, 2017, Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  12. ^ Consummation Notice Archived January 22, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved January 22, 2018.