Gray Television
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| Public | |
| Traded as | : GTN |
| Industry | Broadcast television |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Headquarters |
Atlanta, Georgia, Albany, Georgia |
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Area served
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Key people
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Hilton H Howell, Jr. (CEO) |
| Products | 93 terrestrial TV stations |
| Revenue | $597 million USD (2015) |
| $340 million (Broadcast Cash Flow 2014) | |
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Number of employees
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2,086 |
| Website | Official website |
Gray Television, Inc. is a television broadcast company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1946 by James Harrison Gray, a New Englander who moved to Southwest Georgia, he formed Gray Communications Systems (now Gray Television) which has grown since 1993 into a modern-day, successful television group based out of Atlanta, Georgia through a series of acquisitions ranging from 1993-2014.
Gray Television owns and/or operates 93 television stations in 51 television markets broadcasting 190 program streams including 96 affiliates of the Big Four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox). Gray Television's owned and/or operated stations include 36 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, 27 channels affiliated with the NBC Network, 19 channels affiliated with the ABC Network and 14 channels affiliated with the Fox Network.
The combined station group owns and operates the number-one or number-two ranked television station operations in 50 of those 51 markets. The combined TV Station Group reaches approximately 9.5 percent of total United States television households.
James H. Gray started his communication business with the purchase of The Albany Herald in 1946 after he returned from World War II. Gray launced WALB-TV in 1954 and was the second station in the state. In the 1960s additional stations were purchased in Louisiana and Florida. First in 1960, the Florida station was WJHG-TV in Panama City. While in late 1960s, KTVE was the Louisiana station.
In 1986, Gray died leaving his 50.% share of the stock in a trust for his children with stipulation that they run the business together, sell their stock each other or sell out together. This caused difficulties as two of the three wanted to sell with the third unable to purchases. In 1991 to break the stalemate, the board of directors had the company purchased 25% of their shares.
The company was then taken public on NASDAQ's small-cap market in the 2nd quarter 1992. The price per share drop to $8. The company put itself or any part up for sale by the end of 1992. While the board of director received about 40 offer, Bull Run Corporation purchased the remaining shares of the Gray siblings, who as part of the deal resigned from the board.
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Wikipedia