PROVIDENCE – ION Media Networks Inc., the owner of local television station WPXQ-TV ION 69, completed its restructuring Monday after emerging from bankruptcy earlier this month.
West Palm Beach, Fla.-based ION, formerly known as Paxson Communications Corp., is now majority owned by its creditors, private-equity firms Avenue Capital, Black Diamond Capital and Trilogy Capital. The company said it eliminated $2.7 billion in debt and preferred stock claims and now has $150 million in funding for operations.
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Former owners NBC Universal Inc. and Citadel Investment Group LLC no longer have equity stakes in ION, the company said.
“We are pleased about completing our financial restructuring so smoothly and appreciate the support of our stakeholders and employees,” Brandon Burgess, who will continue as ION’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
WPXQ was first licensed as WOST-TV in 1986 and went on the air in 1992. Its call letters were changed in 1998, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
The station is licensed to Block Island but operates out of studios in New London, Conn. Its advertising sales fell 5.3 percent to $450,000 in 2008, according to BIA Financial Network Inc., a Chantilly, Va.-based market research firm.
Additional information is available at iontelevision.com.
