Editing WRBU (section)

===Bankruptcy and sale===
By 2010, the Roberts brothers had begun facing serious financial trouble with their various businesses. The Roberts' broadcasting unit, in particular, had become the subject of lawsuits by [[Warner Bros. Television]], [[20th Television]] and [[CBS Television Distribution]] over its failure to make fee payments for syndicated programs that it acquired for its CW- and MyNetworkTV-affiliated stations (Warner Bros. and CBS would win their court disputes against Roberts, which also later reached a settlement with 20th Television); the company also was unable to fund the construction of Evansville CW affiliate WAZE-TV's digital transmitter facilities, an issue that led the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) to cancel that station's full-power license in March 2011 (WAZE continued to operate through its three analog-only low-power translators until their shutdown in January 2013).<ref>{{cite web|title=WAZE-TV translators shut down|url=http://jakesdtvblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/breaking-waze-tv-translators-shut-down.html|first=Jacob|last=Newkirk|website=Jake's DTV Blog/[[Blogspot]]|date=January 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218140530/http://jakesdtvblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/breaking-waze-tv-translators-shut-down.html|archive-date=December 18, 2013|access-date=December 15, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> This culminated in Roberts Broadcasting filing for [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy]] protection on October 7, 2011. The group cited the cause of its financial downturn on the loss of the UPN affiliations on WRBU, WZRB and WRBJ-TV, on the basis that much of UPN's programming slate at the time of its shutdown consisted of shows aimed at African Americans and other minority audiences that Roberts felt were compatible with the core viewership of the stations.<ref name=b&c-robertsbankruptcy>{{cite news|title=Roberts Broadcasting Files For Bankruptcy|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/475001-Roberts_Broadcasting_Files_For_Bankruptcy.php|first=Michael|last=Malone|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=NewBay Media|date=October 10, 2011|access-date=October 10, 2011}}</ref><ref name=c&p-robertsbankruptcy>{{cite news|title=WAZE Owner Roberts Broadcasting files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy|url=http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/oct/10/waze-owner-roberts-broadcasting-files-chapter-11-b/|first=Jacob|last=Newkirk|newspaper=[[Evansville Courier & Press]]|publisher=[[E. W. Scripps Company]]|date=October 10, 2011|access-date=October 10, 2011}}</ref>

On February 20, 2012, Roberts announced that the company was exploring the sale of one or all four of its television stations in order to raise sufficient funding to pay off its creditors;<ref>{{cite web|title=Roberts Broadcasting Mulls Sale of TV Stations|url=http://www.stltoday.com/business/columns/lisa-brown/roberts-broadcasting-mulls-sale-of-tv-stations/article_cb921586-5bfe-11e1-a475-001a4bcf6878.html|first=Lisa|last=Brown|newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]|publisher=[[Lee Enterprises]]|date=February 20, 2012}}</ref> the company would eventually sell WRBJ to the [[Trinity Broadcasting Network]] in October 2012<ref>{{cite web|title=Roberts brothers' TV station in new hands|url=http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20121023/BIZ/310230036/Roberts-brothers-TV-station-new-hands?nclick_check=1|first=Jeff|last=Ayres|newspaper=[[The Clarion-Ledger]]|publisher=[[Gannett]]|date=October 22, 2012}}</ref><ref name=stlpd-courtapproval>{{cite news|title=Roberts Cos.' Mississippi TV station sale approved|url=http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/roberts-cos-mississippi-tv-station-sale-approved/article_c5ded9b7-ad9e-5b80-a3c5-f5985ff2ba77.html|first=Lisa|last=Brown|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|publisher=Lee Enterprises|date=January 18, 2013|access-date=January 19, 2013}}</ref> and WZRB to [[Tri-State Christian Television]] subsidiary Radiant Light Ministries on December 2, 2013,<ref>{{cite web|title=APPLICATION FOR CONSENT TO ASSIGNMENT OF BROADCAST STATION CONSTRUCTION PERMIT OR LICENSE (WZRB)|url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1599575&Service=DT&Form_id=314&Facility_id=136750|website=CDBS Public Access|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|access-date=December 4, 2013|date=December 2, 2013}}</ref> leaving WRBU as the last station that Roberts had yet to cut a divestiture deal.

On December 4, 2013, Roberts filed to sell WRBU to Tri-State Christian Television directly for $5.5 million;<ref name=fcc-saletotct>{{cite web|title=APPLICATION FOR CONSENT TO ASSIGNMENT OF BROADCAST STATION CONSTRUCTION PERMIT OR LICENSE|url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1605318&Service=DT&Form_id=314&Facility_id=57221|work=CDBS Public Access|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|access-date=December 9, 2013|date=December 4, 2013}}</ref> however, on December 11, a [[U.S. Bankruptcy Court]] hearing gave initial approval for a plan by Roberts' creditors to instead transfer WRBU and its sister stations, WZRB and former WAZE-TV translator WAZE-LP, to a trust overseen by Gary Chapman with Ion Media Networks—a creditor in Roberts' bankruptcy proceedings—as its beneficiary. The attorney representing Roberts subsequently stated that Ion Media would purchase the three stations outright. The FCC approved the deal on February 2, 2014.<ref name=slbj-robertsion>{{cite news|title=Judge approves creditors' proposal the network's in Roberts Broadcasting bankruptcy|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/2013/12/judge-approves-creditors-proposal-in.html?page=all|first=Angela|last=Mueller|newspaper=St. Louis Business Journal|publisher=[[American City Business Journals]]|date=December 11, 2013|access-date=December 11, 2013}}</ref><ref name=slpd-robertsion>{{cite news|title=Roberts' TV stations to be sold|url=http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/roberts-tv-stations-to-be-sold/article_6dbc41fa-08af-5618-97d4-33b7acf750d0.html|first=Lisa|last=Brown|newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]|publisher=[[The McClatchy Company]]|date=December 11, 2013|access-date=December 11, 2013}}</ref>