Atlanta-based Gray Television, in heavy acquisition mode, has purchased Capital Media Group, the parent company of Telemundo Atlanta.
Capital Media operates both Spanish and Korean broadcast networks as well as Surge Digital Media, a boutique digital agency targeting a multicultural audience.
Terms of the deal were not released.
Gray, now one of the largest owners of TV stations in the United States in 113 markets, is in major expansion mode. It recently acquired Meredith Corp.’s TV stations, including Atlanta-based CBS46 (WGCL-TV) and Peachtree TV (WPCH-TV). The company is also building out a large portion of the land once occupied by the General Motors plant in Doraville for a massive mixed-use operation and film studio.
Gray CEO Hilton Howell, in a press release, said: “Together, our Atlanta media properties will be better able to grow their local audiences, serve local community groups, and provide unparalleled opportunities for local businesses to reach consumers.”
Susan Sim Oh and her brother Coline Sim launched Telemundo Atlanta in 2009. The station has pocketed 61 Southeast Emmy Awards over the past decade. The station provides live Spanish newscasts at 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
Both siblings will stay on when Gray takes over. Coline Sim will oversee the station’s operations while Susan Sim Oh will take a fresh role guiding strategy, multiplatform operations, and expansion across the nation for Gray’s Telemundo Station Group, which will encompass 12 markets.
“We know that Gray shares our deep commitment of moving the community forward and we are excited for the opportunities that Gray will bring to our employees and audiences,” Oh said in a press release.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Howell said he approached the family business and convinced them to sell, praising the two siblings for their leadership skills and business acumen. “I’m personally thrilled to keep them aboard,” he said. “They already produce a lot of local content. We want to do more.”
Oh, in a separate interview, said she had no intention of selling before Gray approached her. “We’re a successful station,” she said. “We’re the largest Telemundo affiliate this side of the Eastern seaboard. We have a great team and great rapport with the community and our community partners.”
But Gray, which recently acquired several Telemundo stations, needed expertise to build those stations and Howell wanted Oh to impart her knowledge.
Oh, a Georgia native and graduate of Greater Atlanta Christian School, said she and her brother started Telemundo Atlanta in 2009 because there were no daily newscasts or newspapers for the Hispanic audience in metro Atlanta.
“It really dawned on me,” she said. “Hispanics were missing out on essential information to make good decisions. If there was a new law or opportunities that could help them assimilate to be better citizens, they had to find out by word of mouth, which wasn’t necessarily credible.” (Rival Univision Atlanta launched a news operation around that time as well.)
Oh, who also worked at CNN out of college, readily acknowledges that she is not your typical TV station owner.
“I feel like my gift is being a connector,” she said. “I’m sure people ask, ‘What is this Korean American lady running a Hispanic language station.?’ But a TV station is run like a TV station. It’s a commitment to provide news and information to a specific community.”
Though Oh was born in America, her parents are immigrants so she can relate to the immigrant experience most Telemundo viewers have: “I have that perspective in mind and I have my business mind.”
Telemundo is owned by NBCUniversal so Oh also has access to all of NBC’s tentpole live events like the World Cup, the Olympics and the upcoming Super Bowl as well as major Hollywood films dubbed into Spanish.
Oh said she was enticed by Gray’s commitment to build a more robust digital operation as more people transition into streaming. Capital Media studios, which are based in Duluth, will move to WGCL-TV’s building in Midtown in a few months.
KTN, the Korean language network, also leases two of Capital Media’s secondary over-the-air signals.
Howell said the acquisition of Capital Media will take a few months to finalize as they go through the standard regulatory approval process.
About the Author
