Public (NASDAQ: EMDAQ) | |
Industry | Broadcasting |
Fate | Chapter 11 Bankruptcy |
Founded | 1998 |
Founder | Gregory W. Fess, Larry E. Morton |
Defunct | 2009 |
Headquarters | Little Rock, Arkansas, USA |
Key people
|
John E. Oxendine (President, CEO); Gregory W. Fess (COO, SVP); Neal Ardman (VP TVOps) |
Services | TV Stations |
Subsidiaries | CASH, Equity Broadcasting |
Website | http://emdaholdings.com (Defunct) |
Equity Media Holdings Corporation was a broadcasting company based in Little Rock, Arkansas that owned and operated television stations across the United States. Prior to March 30, 2007, the company was known as Equity Broadcasting, a name later used for its broadcast station subsidiary. The company had a focus on Hispanic and Asian American communities in large markets while owning a combination of English-language network affiliates in medium and small markets.
Equity was known for its use of broadcast automation to control dozens of small, local UHF television broadcasting stations from one central Little Rock location; the feeds were readily visible on free-to-air satellite television through much of North America, despite the very small terrestrial footprint of the individual stations over the air. Most commonly, Equity stations were low-power television affiliates of Univision, Fox, The WB/UPN or carried music videos and classic television reruns.
In late 2005, Equity launched the Retro Television Network (RTN for short), a programming service with a lineup of "classic" shows from the 1950s through the 1980s which currently airs in part or full in numerous markets (controversially replacing UPN in one). Equity sold RTN to Luken Communications in June 2008.
Equity filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 8, 2008 and auctioned the individual stations on April 16, 2009. Many stations were sold to broadcast companies such as Daystar Television Network.