In December 2008, Cox Enterprises created Cox Media Group (CMG) by merging Cox Newspapers, Cox Radio, and Cox Television into one integrated digital media company. The creation of Cox Media Group was a departure from grouping subsidiaries based solely on publishing medium. In August 2009, Cox Enterprises realigned its radio, television, newspaper/publishing, and digital assets into the same division. Under the new structure, while the local brands remain independent, they share resources and some management. Dayton, Ohio, was considered the prototype for the media group, where radio, television, newspaper, and direct mail were all in the same market, and were combined into a new building. In other markets where the facilities are not as close together, they do share some senior management; for example, Houston and San Antonio Radio and the
Austin American-Statesman newspaper all fall under the same regional vice president. In addition to the radio/TV stations and newspapers, Cox Media Group encompasses Cox Digital Solutions (digital sales for both Cox and non-Cox online and mobile properties), Cox Reps (national TV sales for station groups such as Gray and Tegna), Kudzu.com, Savings.com, and Valpak direct mail. CMG introduced a new group-buying discount program called DealSwarm in October 2010. DealSwarm provides online discounts at local businesses. The program is active in such Cox Media Group properties as Atlanta, Austin and Dayton. In July 2012, CMG announced its intention to sell its radio stations in smaller markets: Birmingham, Greenville, Hawaii, Louisville, Richmond, and Southern Connecticut. It also intends to spin off its smaller-market television stations in El Paso, Johnstown, Reno, and Steubenville. The company said it intended to focus on larger markets or smaller markets that could be clustered together with other CMG properties. In April 2013, CMG launched the online-only new site
Rare.us as a conservative media source, originally with the tagline "Red is the Center", and more recently "America's News Feed". After initially low audience numbers, the site expanded dramatically following more prominent use of social media and a more diverse range of stories. two weeks later, on February 25, the company announced the sale of the four television stations (and the
local marketing agreement for a fifth) to
Sinclair Broadcast Group. In October 2014, Cox Digital Solutions became Gamut. Smart Media from Cox., offering media solutions to address the evolution of
over-the-top media services (OTT). With this transition, CMG would cover linear television and radio, and Gamut would focus on OTT/
CTV.
Sale of majority stake to Apollo Global Management On July 24, 2018, Cox Enterprises announced that it was "exploring strategic options" for Cox Media Group's television stations, which the company said could involve "partnering or merging these stations into a larger TV company". Cox Media Group's president, Kim Guthrie, subsequently clarified to trade publication
Radio & Television Business Report that the company was solely seeking "a merger or partnership" and not an outright sale of the television stations. On February 15, 2019, Cox announced that
Apollo Global Management would acquire a majority interest in the CMG television stations, as well as the Dayton radio stations and Ohio newspapers (whose operations are integrated with
WHIO-TV), forming a new company that retains Cox Media Group's management and operating structure; Cox Enterprises holds a minority stake in this company. Cox's other radio stations, as well as
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, were not included in the deal; On March 18, 2019, the
Atlanta Business Chronicle reported that Cox Enterprises was "exploring options" for its radio stations.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution would not be included in any potential deal for the stations. On June 26, 2019, Cox announced that the radio stations, as well as national advertising business – CoxReps, and local OTT advertising agency - Gamut, would also be acquired by the Apollo Global Management-backed company, which concurrently announced that it would retain the Cox Media Group name instead of Terrier Media. As they would no longer be grandfathered, the new company must divest a radio station each in the Orlando and Tampa Bay markets. Both acquisitions, along with Apollo's concurrent $384 million acquisition of
Northwest Broadcasting, were approved by the FCC on November 22, 2019, under conditions imposed after a federal court blocked changes to several FCC ownership policies. To comply with regulations prohibiting the cross-ownership of broadcast stations and daily newspapers (which the FCC had sought to repeal), CMG agreed to cut publication of its Ohio newspapers to three days a week within 30 days of the deal's completion; Cox Enterprises also reduced its stake in CMG to a nonattributable interest, eliminating an ownership conflict with
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. CMG was also required to surrender the licenses to two of Northwest Broadcasting's stations, in
Yuma, Arizona, and
Syracuse, New York, where Northwest's existing
duopolies did not comply with reinstated provisions of the FCC's duopoly rule. Cox announced the closing of the acquisition on December 17, 2019. On February 10, 2020, Cox Enterprises announced it would repurchase the
Dayton Daily News,
Journal-News, and
Springfield News-Sun from CMG, once again owning a 100% interest in the newspapers; the sale, which reunited the papers with
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Cox Enterprises' newspaper holdings, allowed them to continue daily publication despite the court ruling. The sale was officially closed on March 2. On February 22, 2022, a partnership of
Standard General and Apollo announced their intent to acquire
Tegna; Apollo would hold non-voting shares in the company. As part of the sale, Standard General would sell
Standard Media's
WDKA,
WLNE,
KBSI, and
KLKN to CMG, and CMG would also acquire Tegna's stations in Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin (including
WFAA,
KHOU, and
KVUE). WFXT would be divested to Standard General. The sale was approved by Standard General and Apollo Global Management on May 17, 2022. On February 24, 2023, it was confirmed that the deal would be given a hearing before an
administrative law judge, which the FCC Commissioner's Board voted to remand the merger review. The deal was terminated on May 22, 2023. On March 30, 2022, Cox Media Group announced that it would sell 18 stations, namely
KYMA in
Yuma, Arizona;
KIEM and
KVIQ-LD in
Eureka, California;
KPVI in
Idaho Falls, Idaho;
KLAX in
Alexandria, Louisiana;
WABG,
WNBD and
WXVT in
Greenwood, Mississippi;
WICZ in
Binghamton, New York;
WSYT in
Syracuse, New York;
KOKI and
KMYT in
Tulsa, Oklahoma;
KMVU and
KFBI-LD in
Medford, Oregon;
WHBQ in
Memphis, Tennessee;
KAYU in
Spokane, Washington; and
KCYU-LD and
KFFX in
Yakima, Washington to
Imagicomm Communications—a
shell company affiliated with the cable network
INSP—for an undisclosed amount. The sale was completed on August 1. On June 18, 2024, Cox Media Group conducted a round of layoffs around the company including mostly low level management, morning show hosts, program/brand directors and promotions personnel. The exact number or positions have not been officially disclosed. == Controversy ==