Editing Metromedia (section)

===Origins===
The company arose from the ashes of the [[DuMont Television Network]], the world's first commercial [[television network]].<ref name="BTO">{{cite book|last=Goldenson|first=Leonard H.|author-link=Leonard Goldenson|author2=Wolf, Marvin J.|title=Beating the Odds|url=https://archive.org/details/beatingoddsun00gold|url-access=registration|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|year=1991|page=[https://archive.org/details/beatingoddsun00gold/page/105 105]|isbn=9780684190556}}</ref> DuMont had been in economic trouble throughout its existence, and was seriously undermined when [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] accepted a buyout offer from [[United Paramount Theaters]] in 1953. The ABC-UPT deal gave ABC the resources to operate a national television service along the lines of [[CBS]] and [[NBC]]. DuMont officials quickly realized the ABC-UPT deal put their network on life support, and agreed in principle to merge with ABC. However, it was forced to back out of the deal when minority owner [[Paramount Pictures]] raised antitrust concerns. UPT had only spun off from Paramount four years earlier, and there were still doubts about whether the two companies were really separate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.r-vcr.com/~television/TV/TV11.htm |title=DuMont TV |access-date=December 31, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231105843/http://www.r-vcr.com/~television/TV/TV11.htm |archive-date=December 31, 2006 }}</ref>

By 1955, DuMont realized it could not compete against the other three networks and decided to wind down its operations. Soon after DuMont formally shut down network service in 1956, the parent firm [[DuMont Laboratories]] spun off the network's two remaining [[owned and operated station]]s, [[WNYW|WABD]] in New York City and [[WTTG]] in Washington, D.C., to shareholders as the '''DuMont Broadcasting Corporation.'''<ref>"DuMont network to quit in telecasting 'spin-off.'" ''[[Broadcasting and Cable|Broadcasting - Telecasting]]'', August 15, 1955, pg. 64. [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/55-OCR/1955-08-15-BC-0064.pdf]{{dead link|date=September 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>"DuMont completes spin-off, separates broadcasting, labs.'" ''Broadcasting - Telecasting'', December 5, 1955, pg. 7. [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/55-OCR/1955-12-05-BC-0007.pdf]{{dead link|date=September 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> The company's headquarters were co-located with WABD in the former DuMont Tele-Centre (which was later renamed the Metromedia Telecenter) in New York.

In 1957, DuMont Broadcasting purchased two New York area radio stations, WNEW (now [[WBBR]])<ref>"DuMont pays $7.5 million for WNEW." ''Broadcasting'', March 25, 1957, pp. 31-32. [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/57-OCR/1957-03-25-BC-0031.pdf]{{dead link|date=September 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/57-OCR/1957-03-25-BC-0032.pdf]{{dead link|date=September 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> and WHFI (later [[WNEW-FM]] and WWFS),<ref>[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/57-OCR/1957-11-18-BC-0096.pdf "Changing Hands." ''Broadcasting'', November 18, 1957, pg. 96]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>"For the Record." ''Broadcasting - Telecasting'', January 6, 1958, p. 108. [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/58-OCR/1958-01-06-BC-0095.pdf]{{dead link|date=September 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> and later that year changed its name to the '''Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation''' to distance itself from its former parent company.<ref>"DuMont revenue grows, name change approved." ''Broadcasting'', May 19, 1958, pg. 84. [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/58-OCR/1958-05-19-BC-0084.pdf]{{dead link|date=September 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> The following year, Paramount sold its shares in Metropolitan Broadcasting to Washington-based investor [[John Kluge]], enough to give Kluge controlling interest. Kluge installed himself as chairman, and later increased his holdings to 75 percent.<ref>"Kluge buying Paramount's 21% of Metropolitan Broadcasting." ''Broadcasting'', December 1, 1958, pg. 9. [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/58-OCR/1958-12-01-BC-0011.pdf]{{dead link|date=September 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> WABD's [[call letters]] were later changed to WNEW-TV to match its new radio sisters.<ref>[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/58-OCR/1958-09-08-BC-0084.pdf "Name change." ''Broadcasting'', September 8, 1958, pg. 84]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>