A Little Rock-based division of Media Gateway providing ways for stations to produce local newscasts in their markets in a high-tech and “cost-effective” way has been purchased by a pair of broadcast executives who own and manage 18 TV stations across the U.S.
Acquired by Mike Reed and Bill Christian is INN, and once the deal closes the entity will take on the new name of NewsHub.
Christian and Reed officially assumed control of NewsHub on Saturday (6/1), with Matthew Davidge giving them the keys. He’d been overseeing INN and parent Media Gateway since March 6, when company founder Jeff Lyle passed away.
INN, in operation for more than a decade, is the result of Lyle’s efforts in the creation of “news hubbing,” where centrally located anchors read for satellite stations.
“We have been their clients for many years and strongly believe in the quality newscasts they provide,” says Christian. “We believed in them so much, we decided to buy the company.”
NewsHub will remain in Little Rock and will be managed by Elden A. Hale Jr., the newly named Corporate Director of News for Waypoint Media. INN moved to Little Rock from Davenport, Iowa, where it was born under Media Gateway ownership in 1999.
Waypoint will serve as the parent company of NewsHub, joining 18 television and radio stations in Mississippi, New York, Tennessee, Arkansas and Indiana.
NewsHub has multiple news studios, producing simultaneous newscasts for TV stations across the country. “We will continue to serve as a professional outsource that coordinates professional studio, production, and on-air talent with local stations’ reporters,” Hale says. “Our ability to create customized newscasts as well as digital-only platforms in this format is unmatched in local television.”