Ion Media (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) was an American broadcasting company that owned and operated over 71 television stations in most major American markets (through its television stations group, Ion Media Television), as well as the linear broadcast networks Ion Television, Ion Plus, and Qubo. After being operated as a private company since it entered and emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, it was acquired by the E. W. Scripps Company and merged with its Katz Broadcasting subsidiary on January 7, 2021, creating the new Scripps Networks division, after Scripps' purchase of Ion Media to manage those assets separately from its traditional broadcast network-affiliated television stations. History As Paxson Communications Corporation The company was founded in 1988 by Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson in Florida. The company purchased radio stations and a couple of television stations, eventually becoming Florida's largest radio group. The radio stations' formats included rock, contemporary hit radio, news and talk, and adult contemporary. The television stations were network affiliates of ABC and NBC. In 1993 the company began to purchase stations on the outer fringes of large television markets. In 1994, Paxson acquired its first television station, ABC affiliate WPBF in West Palm Beach, Florida. The company divested itself of both the radio group and major-network affiliated television stations in 1998, focusing on building its own independent TV network, "PAX TV". The company focused on acquiring UHF television stations. Some of these stations are out-of-market stations, such as WPXD in Ann Arbor, Michigan ( from Detroit), KXLI in St. Cloud, Minnesota ( from Minneapolis), WTLK in Rome, Georgia ( from Atlanta), WPXJ in Pavilion, New York ( from both Buffalo and Rochester, New York), and WAYK in Melbourne, Florida ( from Orlando). Still in some markets the company bought low-rated stations that had the same type of signals as established stations with medium to high ratings. These stations included WCFC in Chicago (religious), WTGI in Wilmington, Delaware (brokered), WAKC in Akron, Ohio (Cleveland's secondary ABC affiliate), and channel 35 in Miami (Shopping), among others. In the fall of 1997, a tentative lineup was announced, and it included a family entertainment lineup of drama shows, movies, first-run shows, wildlife shows, sitcoms, and talk shows. The most expensive station acquisition was WBIS in New York City. The city government had sold this station to Dow Jones & Company and ITT in 1996 for nearly