Soul of the South

Somber news comes from Media Gateway, the Little Rock broadcast and master control service outsourcer for TV stations around the country: Jeff Lyle, the media company’s managing partner, has been sidelined by a stroke. read more >

Last year, a slew of tax liens was visited upon SSN Media Gateway LLC, the limited liability company does business as Media Gateway. read more >

Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff dismissed its lawsuit against investors in the troubled Soul of the South venture without prejudice on Jan. 10. read more >

Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff sued to recover the a $1.4 million collection effort from the leading investors in the troubled Soul of the South venture. read more >

The legal battle over the broadcast license of KMYA-TV, Channel 49, is entering its 23rd month with resolution nowhere in sight. read more >

A new episode of the long-running legal soap opera surrounding the Soul of the South TV network is playing out in Pulaski County Circuit Court, where a Chicago television station is accusing Little Rock businessman Larry Morton of dodging service in a lawsuit. read more >

In a 31,000-SF multimedia center in Little Rock, The Media Gateway LLC pioneers a new kind of newscasting in a consolidating industry where master control functions, the last line of quality control before broadcast, are increasingly outsourced. read more >

Some debt disputes and lawsuits have made the scene since an ownership change visited a broadcast facility and its media gateway operations in west Little Rock. read more >

The broadcast license for KMYA-TV, Channel 49, that Soul of the South Network investors are fighting over was an important piece to a funding puzzle two years ago. read more >

Inquiries about how the Arkansas Development Finance Authority and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission came to invest more than $1.7 million in Soul of the South's short-lived financial fiasco are being made. read more >

A schism among Soul of the South investors has erupted into a lawsuit over control of the venture’s most valuable asset: the broadcast license for KMYA-TV, Channel 49. read more >

Media Gateway Facility LLC purchased the 30,800-SF studio complex at 1 Shackleford Drive from Rock City Media LLC. read more >

The wife of Mike Preston, the new director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, has landed a new job. The television news personality was hired on at SSN Media Gateway at the end of June, according to Managing Partner Jeff Lyle. read more >

The fledgling television network is the subject of at least two lawsuits in federal court and has been notified it owes $250,000 on a loan from the state. But at least one board member says he is hopeful that good things are in the works. read more >

AEDC says Soul of the South owes payment on a $250,000 loan from the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund that came due June 5. The AEDC granted the loan in December, bringing the total state investment in the company to $1.75 million. read more >

An offer to purchase the note on the building housing Soul of the South and several related entities fell through after three days late last month. read more >

Mac Hogan, who invested $375,000 in the fledgling television network, submitted a brief letter to Secretary Bill Campbell and board Chairman Ladly Abraham on Tuesday. The letter stated that Hogan was resigning from the board and all related entities. read more >

The $28 million cash offer to acquire the photo archives and sports memorabilia assets once owned by John Rogers has drawn objections and cautionary filings. read more >

John Rogers has been working closely with a would-be buyer of his former sports memorabilia and photo archive, according to a sworn deposition given by one of his many creditors. The proposal, $28 million in cash plus stock, is awaiting court review. It isn’t the first problematic business deal visited on Arkansas by Tim Holly and his Red Alert Media Matrix Inc. read more >

The board of directors for Soul of the South — the 2-year-old television network backed by nearly $2 million in state money — considered winding down operations at a board meeting last week, CEO Doug McHenry said. read more >