Traffic Firms Wicks, Marketron Merge

Traffic software vendors Wicks Broadcasts Solutions and Marketron International are merging their operations.

Pete D'Acosta, CEO of Wicks Broadcast, will remain as CEO of the new company, operating under the name of Marketron Broadcast Solutions. Terms of the deal between Wicks, part of the New York-based Wicks Group of Companies, LLC, and privately-held Marketron were not disclosed.

Both companies provide traffic, sales and business management software to the radio, television and cable industries, with Wicks holding a large share of the radio market while Marketron counts over 700 TV stations as clients. Both offer Internet-based hosted-server solutions and software to provide integrated electronic delivery of orders and invoices; Marketron has developed a hosting application for its traffic and billing software which allows TV stations "anywhere access" to inventory-management applications and data and is accessible from any computer with an Internet connection.

"The Marketron brand has a solid 40-year legacy of innovation and a major market presence that results in a perfect strategic fit with WBS," said D'Acosta in a statement. "Blending these companies will allow us to provide better solutions designed to advance the broadcast industry and improve the station's position in the selling process."

Marketron Broadcast Solutions now includes the software divisions of both WBS and Marketron, located in Reedsport, Ore.; Opelika, Ala.; Hailey, Idaho; Birmingham, Ala.; and Toronto, Canada.