The owner of WVPX/TV23 in Akron, ION Media Networks, Inc., has filed for bankruptcy protection according to published reports. Although TV23's transmitter is located in Akron, all of its local operations are based at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center here in Cleveland, where it rents space. The parent company, formerly known as PAX, owns and operates the largest U.S. broadcast television station group and ION Television, the country's only independent broadcast television network. The Company owns 59 of its 60 full-power broadcast television stations, including stations in each of the top 20 U.S. markets and 39 of the top 50. Here's the press release from their website: ION Media Networks, Inc. ("ION"), owner and operator of the ION Television network, announced today [May 20] that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has granted all of the company's first day requests. Court approval includes continued use of cash on hand, ...