Landmark Communications
Encyclopedia
Landmark Media Enterprises LLC (formerly Landmark Communications) is a privately held media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 company headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

 specializing in cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

, broadcast television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...

, print publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

, and internet publishing
Electronic publishing
Electronic publishing or ePublishing includes the digital publication of e-books and electronic articles, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. Electronic publishing has become common in scientific publishing where it has been argued that peer-reviewed scientific journals are in...

. In addition to publishing, it has subsidiaries in what Landmark characterizes as "emerging businesses" that include database marketing, career education and trade shows.

History

The company was founded in 1905 as Norfolk Newspapers, a holding company for the newspaper properties of Samuel L. Slover. They included papers which would eventually become today's Virginian-Pilot
The Virginian-Pilot
The Virginian-Pilot is a daily newspaper based in Norfolk, Virginia, and serving the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, southeastern Virginia, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina. The flagship property of Landmark Media Enterprises, The Pilot is Virginia's largest daily...

. Frank Batten
Frank Batten
Frank Batten was the founder of the first nationwide, 24-hour cable weather channel, The Weather Channel...

 took over the company in 1954, and changed its name to Landmark Communications in 1967. It became Landmark Media Enterprises in 2008.

Properties

Landmark is controlled by the billionaire Batten family, which founded the Weather Channel and Weather.com. Landmark owns Dominion Enterprises
Dominion Enterprises
Dominion Enterprises is a Norfolk, Virginia-based media and information services company for the automotive and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries...

 that runs approximately 100 internet-related companies spanning a variety of subjects, including real estate, employment, vehicles, parenting, travel, businesses for sale and apartments.

Landmark owns four major daily newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s:
  • The Virginian-Pilot
    The Virginian-Pilot
    The Virginian-Pilot is a daily newspaper based in Norfolk, Virginia, and serving the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, southeastern Virginia, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina. The flagship property of Landmark Media Enterprises, The Pilot is Virginia's largest daily...

    , Norfolk, Virginia
  • The Roanoke Times
    The Roanoke Times
    The Roanoke Times is the primary newspaper in Southwestern Virginia and is based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is published by Landmark Media Enterprises...

    , Roanoke, Virginia
    Roanoke, Virginia
    Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...

  • News & Record
    Greensboro News & Record
    The News & Record is the largest newspaper serving Guilford County and the surrounding region. It is based in Greensboro, NC, and produces local sections for Greensboro and Rockingham County, NC. As of April, 2011, it had an average weekday circulation of 60,993 and an average Sunday circulation...

    , Greensboro, North Carolina
    Greensboro, North Carolina
    Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...

  • The Annapolis Capital, Annapolis, Maryland
    Maryland
    Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...



Through its Landmark Community Newspapers subsidiary, it owns five community daily newspapers:
  • The Carroll County Times
    Carroll County Times
    The Carroll County Times was founded on October 6, 1911, as The Times. Owner and publisher George Mather, whose father owned the once-prominent Mather's Department Store in Westminster, MD, sold The Times in 1947. The Times expanded and became the Carroll County Times in 1956.The Carroll County...

    , Westminster, Maryland
    Westminster, Maryland
    Westminster is a city in northern Maryland, United States. It is the seat of Carroll County. The city's population was 18,590 at the 2010 census. Westminster is an outlying community within the Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA, which is part of a greater Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV...

  • Citrus County Chronicle, Crystal River, Florida
    Crystal River, Florida
    Crystal River is a city in Citrus County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,485 at the 2000 census. . According to the U.S Census estimates of 2005, the city had a population of 3,539. The city was incorporated in 1903 and is the self professed "Home of the Manatee"....

  • The News-Enterprise, Elizabethtown, Kentucky
    Elizabethtown, Kentucky
    Elizabethtown is a city in and the county seat of Hardin County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 28,531 at the 2010 census, making it the eleventh-largest city in the state...

  • Los Alamos Monitor, Los Alamos, New Mexico
    Los Alamos, New Mexico
    Los Alamos is a townsite and census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, built upon four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau and the adjoining White Rock Canyon. The population of the CDP was 12,019 at the 2010 Census. The townsite or "the hill" is one part of town while...

  • Las Vegas Optic, Las Vegas, New Mexico
    Las Vegas, New Mexico
    Las Vegas is a city in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities both named Las Vegas, west Las Vegas and east Las Vegas , divided by the Gallinas River, retain distinct characters and separate, rival school districts. The population was 14,565 at the 2000...



It also owns over 120 community and special-interest newspapers in sixteen states. This includes seven publications that cover college sports at
Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

,
University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

,
Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...

,
University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

,
University of Nebraska,
University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

, and
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...

.

Landmark owns two broadcast outlets, both CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 affiliates:
  • KLAS-TV
    KLAS-TV
    KLAS-TV, virtual channel 8 , is the CBS-affiliated television station serving the Las Vegas, Nevada market; it is owned and operated by Landmark Media Enterprises...

    , Las Vegas, Nevada
    Las Vegas, Nevada
    Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

  • WTVF-TV, Nashville, Tennessee
    Nashville, Tennessee
    Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...



Until 2008, Landmark was part-owner (with Pelmorex
Pelmorex
Pelmorex Media Inc. is a Canadian broadcast group. The company operates the broadcasting licence for The Weather Network and its French sister station, MétéoMédia. The Weather Network and MétéoMédia are Canada’s only 24-hour national specialty television networks devoted to weather reporting...

) of Canadian weather channels The Weather Network
The Weather Network
The Weather Network is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that broadcasts weather-related news and information 24 hours a day....

 and MétéoMédia
MétéoMédia
MétéoMédia is a 24-hour Canadian French language Category A specialty channel and web site, which provides weather information 24 hours a day. It primarily serves viewers in Quebec, although some cable TV systems in Ontario and New Brunswick carry the channel as well. It is available nation-wide...

. A second cable outlet, The Travel Channel was owned by the company from 1992 to 1996, when it was sold to Paxson Communications, who subsequently sold it to Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications, Inc. is an American global media and entertainment company. The company started as a single channel in 1985, The Discovery Channel. Today, DCI has global operations offering 28 network entertainment brands on more than 100 channels in more than 180 countries in 39...

, who subsequently sold it to Cox Communications
Cox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...

.

Landmark also owns Continental Broadband, one of the leading providers of data center
Data center
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems...

 (colocation
Colocation
Colocation is the act of placing multiple entities within a single location.Colocation is often used in the data sourcing industry to mean off-site data storage, usually in a data center. This is very important for businesses since the loss of data can be crucial for companies of any size...

) and managed data network services in the United States. Its three business units include DataPoint
DataPoint, Inc
DataPoint, Inc is a data center and managed data network services provider located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is one of the largest cloud computing, network management, and Infrastructure as a Service companies in Maryland.-History:...

, Expedient and nFrame.

In 2005, Landmark acquired Franchiseopportunities.com, and in 2006, BusinessBroker.net and FranchiseAdvantage.com.

It owns four career training
Vocational education
Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...

 schools that focus on health-related career education:
  • Glendale Career College
  • Certified Careers Institute
  • Nevada Career Institute
  • Virginia Career Institute


Both Glendale Career College and Nevada Career Institute have been sold off to a career training school based in southern California.

Former properties

Landmark's predecessor, Norfolk Newspapers, first entered broadcasting in 1930, when it bought Virginia's oldest radio station, WTAR
WTAR
WTAR is a comedy formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, serving Hampton Roads. WTAR is owned and operated by Sinclair Telecable, Inc.-History:...

. It later added Virginia's second television station (and Hampton Roads' first), WTAR-TV (now WTKR
WTKR
WTKR is the CBS affiliate television station serving the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, officially known as the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News DMA. The station is licensed to Norfolk and broadcasts on channel 40 . Its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia...

) and an FM station (now WVKL
WVKL
WVKL is a Urban Contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, serving Hampton Roads. WVKL is owned and operated by Entercom Communications.-External links:*...

). It acquired WFMY-TV
WFMY-TV
WFMY-TV is a television station in Greensboro, North Carolina. Owned by the Gannett Company, WFMYis the CBS affiliate for the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem area...

 in Greensboro as part of its purchase of the Greensboro papers in 1965. However, FCC crossownership rules forced Landmark to sell off WFMY in 1976 and WTAR-TV in 1981. Under the rule, Landmark could not own both a newspaper and a television station in those markets. Landmark also used to own a minority share of the Washingtonian
Washingtonian (magazine)
Washingtonian is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, DC area since 1965. The magazine describes itself as "the magazine Washington lives by." The magazine's core focuses are local feature journalism, guide book-style articles, and real estate advice.-Editorial Content:Washingtonian...

 Magazine, until its rights were traded to Eleanor Merrill, widow of publisher Philip Merrill
Philip Merrill
Philip Merrill was an American diplomat, publisher, banker, and philanthropist who committed suicide while traveling alone on his boat in the Chesapeake Bay.- Career and philanthropy :...

, in a trade for full ownership of the Annapolis Capital newspaper.

In December, 2001, Landmark announced the closing of its wholly owned subsidiary, Church Impressions, LLC, based in Greenville, North Carolina, a publisher of church directories, portraits, and other print and web media products.

Landmark owned the hobby publisher Antique Trader Publications until its sale to Krause Publications in 1999.

Landmark owned Chicago
Chicago (magazine)
Chicago is a monthly magazine published by the Tribune Company. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, larger than People in its market...

magazine until it was sold to Primedia
Primedia
PRIMEDIA Inc. is privately held American media company fully owned by TPG Capital.Consumer Source Inc. is the sole operating division of PRIMEDIA and helps millions of consumers find apartments, houses for rent, and new homes for sale through its Internet, mobile, and print products...

 in 1995. In addition, Landmark was a former owner of KNTV
KNTV
KNTV, channel 11, is the NBC owned-and-operated television station in the Bay Area market. It is licensed to San Jose, with its transmitter located on San Bruno Mountain, just south of San Francisco. It shares facilities in San Jose with NBC Universal sister station KSTS and CNBC's Silicon...

 in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 (now an NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated television stations in the United States
In the United States, owned-and-operated television stations constitute only a portion of their parent television networks, due to an ownership limit imposed by the Federal Communications Commission...

, serving the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 media market).

During Landmark's twelve-year ownership of the station (which lasted from 1978 to 1990), KNTV (affiliated with ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 and serving the Monterey
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...

 / Salinas
Salinas, California
Salinas is the county seat and the largest municipality of Monterey County, California. Salinas is located east-southeast of the mouth of the Salinas River, at an elevation of about 52 feet above sea level. The population was 150,441 at the 2010 census...

 media market at the time) was its only station that was not an affiliate of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 network. Landmark also briefly owned WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, but was forced to sell it immediately due to FCC Restrictions.

On September 19, 2007, it was announced that Continental Broadband (CB), a Landmark Communications (Landmark Media Enterprises) company, sold its South Florida business unit, WebUnited, to Host.net, the leading provider of data center (colocation) and managed network services in Florida.

On May 15, 2009, it was announced that CB sold its Chicago business unit, ANET, to Cogent Communications, a global Internet service provider. On January 23, 2010, it was announced that CB sold its Richmond Business Unit, NET Telcos, to Cavalier Telephone, a full-service provider of telecommunications solutions.

On January 3, 2008, it was reported that the entire Landmark Communications company may be for sale.

Landmark's best-known media outlet was The Weather Channel based in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

. In early 2008 Landmark Communications announced it was exploring the option to sell all its holdings. Two separate investment banks
Investment banking
An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...

, JPMorgan Chase and Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...

, were hired to help with the sale of The Weather Channel and the newspapers.

In July 2008, the company announced the $3.5 Billion sale of The Weather Channel properties, including its share of The Weather Network and MétéoMédia, to NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...

, and the private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....

 firms Blackstone Group
Blackstone Group
The Blackstone Group L.P. is an American-based alternative asset management and financial services company that specializes in private equity, real estate, and credit and marketable alternative investment strategies, as well as financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions ,...

 and Bain Capital
Bain Capital
Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...

. Landmark and NBC Universal completed the sale on September 12, 2008. Additionally, on July 14, it was announced that WTVF
WTVF
WTVF is the CBS-affiliated television station for Middle Tennessee that is licensed to Nashville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 5 from a transmitter north of downtown along I-24. Owned by Landmark Media Enterprises, the station has studios on James Robertson Parkway...

 in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 would be sold to Bonten Media Group.

In October 2008, the company announced that it was suspending the sale of most of its properties, citing the ongoing credit crisis, with the exception of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

In addition to The Weather Channel, Landmark sold the following weather properties:

Financial News

In June 2010, Landmark eliminated its $448 million pension fund, withdrawing pensions for both its retirees and its 5,000 current employees.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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