Granite Hopes to Rock On

摘要

Iast December, business over at Granite Broadcasting appeared to hit, in a manner of speaking, rock-bottom. The New York-based broadcaster had filed for Chapter 11 bank- ruptcy protection when interest on more than I $400 million in secured debt came due. Granite could not muster the funds, and bankruptcy emerged as the best option. A year later, Granite Chairman/CEO Don Cornwell says the company, which climbed out of Chapter 11 in June when an affiliate of Silver Point Capital (and a Granite creditor) took control, will grow again. A year older and, presumably wiser, Cornwell says retransmission consent fees, more dynamic station Websites and a hyper-local focus will pace Granite in 2008. An acquisition or two might even be in the cards. "We're going to be very disciplined about how we grow the business," he says, "but we do think there are opportunities to expand our holdings." Few would've expected to hear such talk a year ago. The final straw for Granite, which owns nine stations, including WEEK Peoria, 111., and WTVH Syracuse, and manages three others, came when it attempted to sell WB outlets WDWB Detroit and KBWB San Francisco in 2005 to help pay down debt.