Roberts Broadcasting
Roberts Broadcasting Company is a media company based in St. Louis, Missouri. It is a subsidiary of the parent company, the Roberts Companies, one of the largest African American owned conglomerates and is co-owned by brothers Steven and Michael Roberts. The company owns four network affiliates, including St. Louis' MyNetworkTV affiliate WRBU, as well as CW affiliates WZRB in Columbia, South Carolina, WAZE-TV in Evansville, Indiana (which due to multiple factors is not transmitting a digital signal and only airing via analog translator stations) and WRBJ in Jackson, Mississippi. It also owns other television stations in selected US markets. It owns one radio station, WRBJ-FM in Jackson.
Roberts Broadcasting filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 7, 2011; the company cited the loss of the UPN affiliations for WRBU, WZRB, and WRBJ when that network shut down in favor of The CW in 2006, as much of UPN's programming consisted of minority-targeted programs that Roberts felt were compatible with their stations' target audiences (though the stations have since more-or-less recovered from this setback; additionally, WAZE had instead affiliated with The WB prior to 2006, as it was owned by South Central Communications until February 2007). The company has also been hit with lawsuits from Warner Bros. Television, Twentieth Television, and CBS Television Distribution over fees for syndicated programming; Roberts eventually settled with Twentieth but lost the Warner Bros. and CBS cases.[1][2]
[edit] References
- ^ Malone, Michael (October 10, 2011). "Roberts Broadcasting Files For Bankruptcy". Broadcasting & Cable. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/475001-Roberts_Broadcasting_Files_For_Bankruptcy.php. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- ^ Newkirk, Jacob (October 10, 2011). "WAZE owner Roberts Broadcasting files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy". Evansville Courier & Press. http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/oct/10/waze-owner-roberts-broadcasting-files-chapter-11-b/. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
