Seacoast businessman Bill Binnie, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2010, appears to be establishing something of a television empire in and around the Granite State, according to sources.
According to the December 28 edition of Radio and Television Business Report, Binnie “is cobbling together pieces of signals to likely make something bigger in the way of programming offering,” by setting up New Hampshire 1 Network, Inc.
Binnie has recently purchased WYCN-LP (Ch. 36) and already owns “WVBK-CA Manchester VT and WVBQ-LP Charlestown, NH,” according to the publication.
“FCC filings show aggressively expanded coverage on both the VHF & UHF dial,” the report reads.
“If the FCC approves the changes Binnie will have six stations that nicely cover the key areas [of the state] two times,” it reads.
During his unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate Republican Binnie got into a brutal public spat with Joe McQuaid, the publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader. Sources close to Binnie say he is trying to compete with the Union Leader and Manchester’s WMUR for advertising dollars.