When your company is headquartered along the shores of Lake Erie, perhaps having a presence in a tropical island or two is a savvy business plan.
For several years, Lilly Broadcasting‘s TV division has provided cable and satellite viewers in U.S. Caribbean territories with English-language network programming from the mainland. Now, it is ensuring its services perhaps avoid another ugly dispute over carriage fees by buying an over-the-air station in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Erie, Pa.-based Lilly owns local CW affiliate WBEP, plus NBC affiliate WICU-TV and CBS affiliate WSEE-TV.
In the Elmira-Corning, N.Y., market, it owns and operates WENY-36 and its DT-2 signal, which offers CBS programming to the Twin Tiers.
Meanwhile, the Lilly family through a different licensee name operates Honolulu-based ABC affiliate KITV-4 and its DT-2 MeTV affiliate.
But, it is Lilly’s unique channels serving Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands that have seen much attention in recent years. They are comprised of:
- One Caribbean Television, a satellite channel originating from Lilly’s Erie headquarters that serves Puerto Rico
- A unique satellite feed of its CBS-affiliated WSEE-TV, which DISH uses to provide network programming to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
- A unique feed of Lilly’s WENY-36 that serves as the ABC affiliate for the Virgin Islands, replacing former ABC affiliate WSVI-8 in St. Croix as of January 2016.
Service to the Caribbean hasn’t come without its hiccups, thanks to testy retransmission consent deals resulting in ugly impasses. In October 2017, DISH by law blocked Lilly Broadcasting from its subscribers. This “blackout” had the American Cable Association peeved, because the ABC and CBS stations serving the U.S. Caribbean territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were yanked just days after Hurricane Maria ravaged the region.
This followed a nearly two-week absence of SJL/Lilly stations, in April 2017, on DirecTV due to a retransmission fee impasse.
With new retransmission deals on the way, perhaps Lilly is looking for a backup plan, should another blockage of its stations result from a new impasse. For $85,000, it is acquiring WCVI-23, a religious station, from Family Broadcasting Corp. and LeSEA Broadcasting of St. Croix.
A $25,000 escrow payment has been made to Hardy, Carey, Chautin & Balkin of Louisiana.
No broker or finder was involved in the deal, which saw John Trent of Putbrese, Hunsacker & Trent serve as Lilly’s counsel of record.
The purchase isn’t a surprise to locals. That’s because Lilly already uses WCVI as an over-the-air home for its ABC Caribbean feed, using its DT-2 signal.
Now, as an O&O, WCVI’s DT-1 signal could become a home for WSEE’s Caribbean feed or, perhaps, a locally based product. Alternatively, One Caribbean Television could air on the DT-1 signal, with CBS going on a DT-3 channel. One Carribbean programming airs on the DT-2 channel when non-network programming from ABC airs.
