KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations, TV and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM Media Group in April 2017.

History

KM Media Group can trace its roots back to 1859, when the ''Maidstone Telegraph'' (now the ''

Kent Messenger The ''Kent Messenger'' is a weekly newspaper serving the mid-Kent area. It is published in three editions - Maidstone, Malling, and the Weald. It is owned by the KM Group and is published on Thursdays. History The ''Kent Messenger'' grew fr ...

'') was first published in Kent's

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

. The newspaper was taken over by Barham Pratt Boorman in 1890, after its owners, the Masters brothers, were jailed and forced to sell up. Boorman had already started his own newspapers in Ashford. Barham was succeeded by his son, Henry Pratt Boorman, in the late 1920s. He realised that people would be keen to buy the paper if it included their picture or pictures of their own towns and villages. Henry's son Edwin joined the firm in the late 1950s and was managing director from 1962 until 1986. That was when his father stepped down as chairman and became President of what had developed into the Kent Messenger Group. Edwin took the Chair and remained at the helm until the end of 2005 when he was succeeded by his oldest daughter, Geraldine Allinson.

Cancelled acquisition of further titles

In July 2011, it was announced Northcliffe Media intended to sell nine of its titles to KM Media Group. The newspapers involved included the '' Dover Express'', '' East Kent Gazette'', ''Folkestone Herald'', ''Herne Bay and Whitstable Times'', ''Isle of Thanet Gazette'', ''

Medway News The ''Medway News'' was a weekly newspaper covering the Medway Towns in Kent, England. Established in 1855 as the ''Military Chronicle'' and ''Naval Spectator'', it relaunched as the ''Chatham News and Rochester, Strood, Brompton & Gillingham A ...

'' and ''Thanet Times''. KM Media Group referred the acquisition to the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...

. The Office of Fair Trading then referred the matter to the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

, because of the possible monopoly it might create. This meant the cost of the deal and process of takeover would have increased. Due to this interest by the Office of Fair Trading and Competition Commission, the take-over of the papers was scrapped. Since then several of the affected newspapers closed including the Medway News and Isle of Thanet Gazette.

Acquisition

Iliffe Media Ltd acquired the entire shareholding of KM Media Group in April 2017.

Newspapers

Paid-for newspapers

KM Media Group operates a number of weekly newspapers for different parts of Kent which have been acquired over the years. * ''

'', with three editions ** Maidstone ** Malling ** Weald * '' Dartford Messenger'' * '' Gravesend Messenger'' * '' Medway Messenger'' * '' Faversham News'' * '' Sheerness Times Guardian'' * Sittingbourne Messenger * Sittingbourne News Extra * '' Kentish Gazette'' (

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

) * '' Whitstable Gazette'' * '' Herne Bay Gazette'' * '' East Kent Mercury'' ( Deal and

Sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

) * '' Dover Mercury'' * ''Folkestone & Hythe Express'' * ''

Kentish Express The ''Kentish Express'' is a weekly newspaper serving southern Kent. It is published in four editions - Ashford, Folkestone, Hythe and Romney Marsh, and Tenterden. The title is owned by the KM Group and published on Thursdays. History The ...

'', with three editions ** Ashford ** Hythe and Romney Marsh ** Tenterden Apart from the ''Medway Messenger'', which is published twice-weekly on Monday and Thursday all titles are published weekly. Also published is ''Kent Business'', a monthly publication which has been going since 1993.

Free newspapers

In 1981 KM Media Group launched its Extra series, beginning with the '' Thanet Extra''. There are currently 4 ''Extra'' newspapers around the county that are distributed through letterboxes and available at pick-up points.

Radio

KM Media Group owns and operates seven commercial FM radio stations in Kent. Six of them were previously independent stations, acquired by the Group between 1999 and 2006 and collectively rebranded KMFM. The programming is networked across the stations, however, there is also unique content on each station including; what's on, local advertisements and sponsorship and when relevant other content e.g. traffic reports and school closures. The network also includes a DAB station.

Internet

KM Media Group's main consumer website is KentOnline.co.uk, launched in 1998.http://www.kentonline.co.uk/km_group/km_group/history/over_150_years_of_history.aspx History of the KM The website offers local news, travel, jobs, motors, holidays and other features. As of 2017 the site attracts over 2.7 million monthly unique browsers.

Television

In 2017, KM Media Group launched

KMTV KMTV-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station has studios on Mockingbird Drive in southwest Omaha, and its transmitter is located on a "tower ...

in partnership with the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

. KMTV is Kent's only dedicated TV channel, broadcasting a range of current affairs and news programming, including its week-nightly news show, ''Kent Tonight'.'' It is part of the Local Television Network and regulated by

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

Offices

KM Media Group has offices in Ashford, Canterbury, Deal, Gravesend, Maidstone, Medway, Ramsgate and Sheerness.List of KM Offices
It previously had offices in Dover, Faversham, Sittingbourne and Tunbridge Wells (which were closed in 2008);http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7630372.stm Newspaper publisher cuts 61 jobs Folkestone (which closed in April 2009); and London (which closed in 2011).

References

{{Reflist

External links

KentOnlinekmfmKMTVMore information about KM Media Group
Radio broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom Mass media in Kent Mass media companies established in 1890 Companies based in Kent 1890 establishments in England