Georgia company buys Columbus station WCBI-TV

<p>A television station that a Mississippi family has owned for 47 years has been sold to a Georgia company, executives say.</p><p>Jerry Jones, station manager at WCBI-TV confirmed that the Columbus television station has been sold to Morris Multimedia, a family owned communications company headquartered in Savannah, Ga.</p><p>Jones said company representatives are expected to start meeting with employees and setting up benefit programs Monday.</p><p>He said the station will be in a transition period for about 60-90 days until the sale becomes finalized. Imes Communications will maintain control of the station during the interim period until the Federal Communications Commission approves the sale.</p><p>The stations new name will be WCBI-TV LLC, Jones said.</p><p>The Imes family, which also owns The Commercial Dispatch newspaper, had owned the station since it was first put on the air in 1956.</p><p>Birney Imes, general manager at the Dispatch, said his family has no plans to sell the newspaper.</p><p>Jones said the station had been loosely on the market for about four years and several buyers had been looking at WCBI during the past few months.</p><p>Morris Multimedia owns WMGT, an NBC affiliate in Macon, Ga.; WXXV, a FOX affiliate in Gulfport; WDHN, an ABC affiliate in Dothan, Ala. and KARK, an NBC affiliate in Little Rock, Ark.</p><p>The company also owns five daily newspapers and more than 80 non-daily and specialty publications.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/11/184678