TVX Broadcast Group
TVX Broadcast Group was an American media company that owned a group of mostly UHF television stations during the 1980s and early 1990s. TVX was established by local investors as the Television Corporation of Virginia, which built WTVZ-TV in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1979. The group soon became Television Corporation Stations—though abbreviated TVX—and adopted its final name in 1984. TVX built or acquired additional independent stations in mid-sized markets, primarily in the southern United States, between 1980 and 1987; it became known for its cost-conscious and cookie-cutter philosophy toward station management, particularly its standard station employment plan with exactly 37 employees. While TVX always envisioned entering larger markets, the acquisition of five major-market independent stations from Taft Broadcasting in 1986 proved to be its eventual downfall. TVX incurred substantial debt in the purchase just as the independent station market soured and investors shied away from its junk bonds. The firm struggled to recapitalize and soon was shedding most of the stations it had built in medium markets. Gulf and Western Industries, the corporate parent of Paramount Pictures, acquired 79 percent of the company from Salomon Brothers in 1989. TVX became wholly owned by Paramount in 1991 and became Paramount Stations Group.