Seattle - Harbor Island - grain terminal 02

Fisher Communications was a media company in the United States. Based in Seattle, Washington, the company primarily owned a number of radio and television stations in the Western United States. It was the last company in the Seattle area to own a local TV station before being acquired by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Fisher was acquired the same year KOMO-TV's competitor

KING-TV KING-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed independent station KONG (channel 16). Both stations share studios at the Home Plate ...

's owner,

Belo Belo may refer to: Organizations * Belo Corporation, a United States media company now part of Gannett * A. H. Belo Corporation, a media company in Dallas, Texas, United States now known as DallasNews Corporation Places * Belo, Cameroon, a to ...

, was acquired by the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.KNWN (AM)'' Fisher Companies, Inc.'s Fisher Communications by 1998 owned 25 radio stations and 2 TV stations. Fisher Companies also owned a flour milling and food distribution company and real estate development subsidiary. In 1999

Retlaw Enterprises Retlaw Enterprises, originally Walt Disney Miniature Railroad, then Walt Disney, Inc. (WDI), and then WED Enterprises (WED), was a privately held company owned by the heirs of entertainment mogul Walt Disney. Disney formed the company to contr ...

sold its remaining 11 television stations to Fisher Communications, including all of the related assets to those properties for $215 million in cash. Its broadcasting unit, until the 2000s, was Fisher Broadcasting. Also that year, Fisher is launching its own entertainment division, Fisher Entertainment, to be headed by Alan Winters, a syndication executive. Fisher began to sell many of its properties in the mid-2000s, including real estate, its longtime flour milling operation, and its stake in Safeco. By 2011, Fisher Communications was down to 10 radio stations."Fisher Communications."
Company Profile. Hoover's, Inc., 2012. Answers.com 20 Jul. 2012. On April 11, 2013, Fisher (which by then owned 20 television stations and only three radio stations) announced that it would be acquired by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. However, the deal was subject to financial scrutiny; the law firm Levi & Korsinsky notified Fisher shareholders with accusations that Fisher's board of directors were breaching fiduciary duties by "failing to adequately shop the Company before agreeing to enter into the transaction", and Sinclair was underpaying for Fisher's stock. Shortly after the announcement, a lawsuit was filed by a Fisher shareholder; the suit was settled in July 2013, on August 6 Fisher's shareholders approved the merger. The FCC granted its approval of the sale of August 7. On August 8, Sinclair announced that the sale was completed.

Former Fisher-owned stations

Radio stations

Television stations

(From 2001 to 2008, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho ABC and CBS stations used a logo having a blue rectangle with the TV number in the rectangle and lowercase call signs on the top.) Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license. Notes: * (**) - ''Indicates a station built and signed-on by Fisher.'' * (++) - ''Indicates a station owned by

, prior to its acquisition by Fisher in 1999.'' Other Note: * ¹ Owned by Roberts Media, LLC, Fisher operated KMTR under a shared services agreement with KVAL.

Contract Dispute

On December 17, 2008, Fisher Communications' contract expired with

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...

. As a result of this contract dispute, stations owned by Fisher Communications were no longer available to Dish Network subscribers. Dish Network claimed that Fisher is asking for over an 80% increase. The Fisher stations that returned to Dish Network are: KOMO and KUNS in Seattle.; KATU and KUNP in Portland.; KIMA in Yakima, Washington.; KVAL in Eugene, Oregon.; KBCI (now KBOI) in Boise, Idaho; KIDK in Idaho Falls, Idaho; and KBAK and KBFX in Bakersfield, California. Dish Network restored the service to their customers at 10:25 p.m. PST on June 10.

References

{{SBGI, state=collapsed Defunct companies based in Seattle Economy of the Northwestern United States Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Sinclair Broadcast Group Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq 2013 disestablishments in Washington (state) Mass media companies disestablished in 2013 2013 mergers and acquisitions