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Capital Cities redirects here. For the article about the seat of a government, see Capital.

Capital Cities Communications (sometimes referred to as "CapCities") was an American media company best known for its surprise purchase of the much larger American Broadcasting Company in 1985.

Capital Cities' origins are traced to 1947, when the Hudson Valley Communications Company received a license for WROW radio in Albany, New York. In October 1953 it opened the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area's second television station, WROW-TV on channel 41. In 1957, WROW-TV moved from channel 41 to channel 10 and became WCDA.

In the same year, Hudson Valley Communications merged with Durham Broadcasting Enterprises, the owners of WTVD television in Durham, North Carolina. The new company took the name Capital Cities Broadcasting, as both WCDA (now WTEN) and WTVD served the capital regions of their respective states. Capital Cities then began purchasing stations, starting with WPRO-AM-FM-TV in Providence, Rhode Island (another capital city) in 1959.

During the 1960s, Capital Cities' holdings grew with the separate 1961 purchases of WPAT-AM-FM in Paterson, New Jersey, and WKBW-AM-TV in Buffalo, New York; and of the Goodwill Stations, which included WJR-AM-FM in Detroit, WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan, and WSAZ-AM-TV in Huntington, West Virginia, in 1964. CapCities entered the Los Angeles market in 1966 with its purchase of KPOL and KPOL-FM (later KZLA-FM and now KMVN-FM).^[1]

As a result of the Goodwill Stations purchase, and to adhere to Federal Communications Commission rules limiting ownership of VHF television stations to five per company, Capital Cities spun-off WJRT-TV to Poole Broadcasting, a company owned by former CapCities shareholder John B. Poole. Poole Broadcasting would later purchase two other television stations from CapCities: WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV) in 1967 when CapCities added KTRK-TV in Houston to its stable in June of that year; and WTEN in 1969. WSAZ-AM (now WRVC) was divested to Stoner Broadcasting in 1970.

In 1971, Capital Cities bought WFIL-AM-FM-TV in Philadelphia, WNHC-AM-FM-TV in New Haven, Connecticut, and KFRE-AM-FM-TV in Fresno, California from Triangle Publications. Capital Cities would immediately sell the radio stations to new owners, and changed the television stations' calls to WPVI-TV, WTNH-TV, and KFSN-TV respectively. The company also adopted the Action News format, previously started by Triangle, and still seen today at WPVI and KFSN. The acquisition of WPVI and WTNH gave them six VHF stations, one station over the FCC limit, and WSAZ-TV was spun-off by CapCities to Lee Enterprises not long after the Triangle purchase was finalized.

In 1974, Capital Cities bought WBAP-AM and KSCS-FM in Fort Worth, Texas, along with its purchase of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Kansas City (Missouri) Star was acquired in 1977. WBIE-FM (now WKHX-FM) in Marietta, Georgia, was bought in 1981, and in 1984 the company made its last purchase with independent television station WFTS in Tampa, Florida.

Capital Cities' announced $3.5 billion purchase of ABC on March 18, 1985, stunned the media industry, as ABC was some four times bigger than Capital Cities was at the time. ^[2]

The newly merged company, known as Capital Cities/ABC (or CapCities/ABC), was forced to sell off some stations due to FCC ownership rules. Between them, ABC and CapCities owned more television stations than FCC rules allowed at the time. Also, the two companies owned several radio stations in the same markets.

Of the former Capital Cities television stations, the new company opted to keep the ones in Philadelphia, Houston, Durham, and Fresno. WFTS and ABC's owned-and-operated station in Detroit, WXYZ-TV, were divested as a pair to the E.W. Scripps Company. WTNH and WKBW-TV were sold separately to minority-owned companies. The new company had originally planned to keep WPVI, but FCC rules could have forced a sale of that station because its signal overlapped with that of ABC's New York City flagship station. At the time, the FCC normally did not allow companies to own two television stations with common coverage areas (known commonly as the "one-to-a-market" rule). Citing CBS' then ownership of television stations in New York and Philadelphia under grandfathered status, Capital Cities/ABC requested, and received, a permanent waiver from the FCC allowing them to keep WPVI. If the request were disallowed, WXYZ would have been retained. ^[3][4][5]

WPVI and KTRK had long been ABC affiliates (in fact, two of ABC's strongest affiliates), while WTVD and KFSN, longtime CBS affiliates, switched to ABC in September 1985.

On the radio side, new owners were found for CapCities' WPAT stations (Roy H. Park Communications was the buyer), WKBW (Price Communications, the new owner, changed its call letters to WWKB) and KPOL and KZLA-FM, and ABC's WRIF-FM in Detroit, among others.

The purchase was completed on January 3, 1986. The new company retained ABC's radio and television combinations in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco, along with WMAL-AM and WRQX-FM in Washington, D.C.; CapCities' aforementioned television outlets and the Detroit, Providence, Marietta, and Fort Worth radio stations, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Kansas City Star; and other broadcasting and publishing properties.

The Walt Disney Company bought Capital Cities/ABC in February 1996, and changed the corporate name back to ABC.

1. ^ "Capital Cities Corp. agrees to purchase station KPOL." The New York Times, Mar. 5, 1966, pg. 51.
2. ^ Kleinfield, N.R. "ABC is being sold for $3.5 billion; 1st network sale." The New York Times, March 19, 1985.
3. ^ Stevenson, Richard W. "ABC, Capital Cities to sell stations." The New York Times, May 14, 1985.
4. ^ "Approval sought for ABC merger." Associated Press, July 2, 1985.
5. ^ Fabrikant, Geraldine. "TV station winners reported." The New York Times, July 26, 1985.