Raycom Media possible buyer for Channel 5

Friday, 02 November 2007

By Kristen Poland Staff Writer Television conglomerate Raycom Media Inc. of Montgomery, Ala., owner of some 50 TV stations in markets serving more than 20 states, could be poised to purchase the TV assets of Lincoln Financial Media, parent company of WCSC-TV Channel 5 in Charleston, according to published reports. Lincoln also owns WBTV-TV Channel 3 in Charlotte, N.C., and WWBT-TV Channel 12 in Richmond, Va. Lincoln Financial Media is a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Lincoln National Corp., a financial services company that does business under the name Lincoln Financial Group.   Raycom Media could not be reached this week for comment. Channel 5 referred all questions to its corporate offices. Lincoln released a statement in June saying it would “explore strategic options” for its media group, but a company spokeswoman this week denied the news reports’ validity. “I’ve read the (news) reports, and as far as we are concerned, this is purely speculation,” said Lincoln Financial spokeswoman Laurel O’Brien. “We did announce in June that we are exploring options, but we have no new updates since then.” According to documents filed recently with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, Lincoln Financial Media’s income from operations was $13.6 million for third-quarter 2007, compared to $14.6 million in the prior-year period, a decline of nearly 7%.