Landmark Communications

Infobox Company
company_name = Landmark Communications
company_logo =
company_type =Private
genre = Media
foundation =
founder = Frank Batten
location =150 W. Brambleton Avenue Norfolk, Virginia 23510-2075
origins =
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area_served =
industry =
products =
services =
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees = 9000
parent =
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homepage = [http://www.landmarkcom.com/ www.landmarkcom.com]
dissolved =
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Landmark Communications is a privately held media company headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia and specializing in cable television, broadcast television, print publishing, and Internet publishing. In addition to publishing, it has subsidiaries in what Landmark characterizes as "emerging businesses" that include database marketing, career education and trade shows.

Properties

Landmark is controlled by the billionaire Batten Family from Norfolk, Virginia. Landmark's best-known media outlet is The Weather Channel based in Atlanta, Georgia. In early 2008 Landmark Communications announced it was exploring the option to sell all its holdings. Two separate investment banks, JPMorgan Chase and Lehman Brothers, were hired to help with the sale of The Weather Channel and the newspapers. Landmark employs approximately 9000 people. The probability that one buyer will purchase the entire Landmark holdings are low.

In July 2008, the company announced the $3.5 Billion sale of The Weather Channel properties to NBC Universal, and the private equity firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. Landmark and NBC Universal completed the sale on September 12, 2008. [cite news|last=Sutel|first=Seth|title=NBC Universal to buy The Weather Channel for $3.5B|publisher=Associated Press|date=2008-07-06|url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080706/ap_on_hi_te/nbc_weather_channel|accessdate=2008-07-08] Additionally, on July 14, it was announced that WTVF in Nashville, Tennessee would be sold to Bonten Media Group.cite news |title=Bonten Buys WTVF-TV Nashville from Landmark |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6578295.html?rssid=193 |work=Broadcasting & Cable |date=2008-07-14 |accessdate=2008-07-14 ]

In addition to The Weather Channel, Landmark sold the following weather properties:
* "weather.com"
* [http://www.wsi.com Weather Services International]

Landmark sold four major daily newspapers:
* "The Virginian-Pilot", Norfolk, Virginia
* "The Roanoke Times", Roanoke, Virginia
* "News & Record", Greensboro, North Carolina
* "The Annapolis Capital", Annapolis, Maryland [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502587.html?referrer=email Annapolis Newspaper Swapped for Washingtonian - washingtonpost.com ] ]

Through its Landmark Community Newspapers subsidiary, it has sold five community daily newspapers:
*"The Carroll County Times", Westminster, Maryland
*"Citrus County Chronicle", Crystal River, Florida
*"The News-Enterprise", Elizabethtown, Kentucky
*"Los Alamos Monitor", Los Alamos, New Mexico
*"Las Vegas Optic", Las Vegas, New Mexico

It also selled over 120 community and special-interest newspapers in sixteen states. This includes seven publications that cover college sports at
Florida State University,
University of Florida,
Indiana University,
University of Iowa,
University of Nebraska,
University of Kentucky, and
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Landmark sold three broadcast outlets:
* KLAS-TV, Las Vegas, Nevada
* WTVF-TV, Nashville, Tennessee
* The Weather Channel, Atlanta, Georgia

Landmark is also part-owner (with Pelmorex) of Canadian weather channels The Weather Network and MétéoMédia. A second cable outlet, The Travel Channel was owned by the company from 1990 to 1996, when it was sold to Paxson Communications, who subsequently sold it to Discovery Communications, who subsequently sold it to Cox Communications.

In 2006 Landmark acquired BusinessBroker.net and FranchiseAdvantage.com.

Landmark also owns Continental Broadband, one of the leading providers of data center (colocation) and managed data network services in the United States. Continental Broadband has seven business units:
* [http://www.datapointinc.com DataPoint] , Baltimore, Maryland
* [http://www.expedient.com Expedient] , three locations in Boston, Pittsburgh and Cleveland
* [http://www.anet.com ANET] , Chicago, Illinois
* [http://www.nframe.com nFrame] , Indianapolis, Indiana
* [http://www.nettelcos.com NET Telcos] , Richmond, Virginia

It owns four career training schools that focus on health-related career education:
* [http://www.success.edu/ Glendale Career College]
*Certified Careers Institute
* [http://www.nevadacareerinstitute.com/ Nevada Career Institute]
* [http://www.virginiacareerinstitute.edu Virginia Career Institute]

Former properties

Landmark formerly owned WFMY-TV, Greensboro, North Carolinaand WTAR-TV (now WTKR) Norfolk, Virginia, but was forced by FCC crossownership rules to sell both stations in the 1970s. Under the rule, Landmark could not own both a newspaper and a television station in those markets. Landmark also used to own the Washingtonian Magazine, until its rights were traded to Eleanor Merrill, widow of publisher Philip Merrill, in a trade for ownership of the Annapolis Capital newspaper.

Landmark owned the hobby publisher Antique Trader Publications until its sale to Krause Publications in 1999. [ [http://www.antiquetrader.com/AboutUs/ Antique Trader - About Us ] ]

In addition, Landmark was a former owner of KNTV in San Jose, California (now an NBC owned-and-operated station, serving the San Francisco Bay Area media market). During Landmark's twelve-year ownership of the station (which lasted from 1978 to 1990), KNTV (affiliated with ABC and serving the Monterey / Salinas media market at the time) was its only station that was not an affiliate of the CBS network.

Landmark also breifly 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, a Landmark Communications Company, sold its South Florida Business Unit, WebUnited to [http://www.host.net Host.net] , the leading provider of data center (colocation) and managed network services in Florida. [ [http://www.contbb.com/newsroom/pressRelease_091907.htm Continental Broadband Continues Pursuit Of Its Business Plan With Strategic Move in South Florida Market ] ]

On January 3, 2008, it was reported that the entire Landmark Communications company may be for sale. [cite news|last=Choyke|first=Bill|coauthors=Walzer, Phil|title=Battens may sell The Roanoke Times' parent company|publisher=The Roanoke Times|date=2008-01-03|url=http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/145644|accessdate=2008-01-03]

References

ee also

*Floyd Abrams and the Landmark Communications case

External links

* [http://www.landmarkcom.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.landmarked.com/ Landmark Education Services official website]
* [http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/landmark.asp Who Owns What: Landmark Communications] , from the "Columbia Journalism Review"
* [http://www.thelancasternews.com/articles/2005/06/29/news/news04_pageland.txt LCNI buys Pageland paper] , a June 2005 article about Landmark's purchase of the "Pageland Progressive-Journal"
* [http://continentalbroadband.com/newsroom/ Continental Broadband Newsroom]