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Gannett acquires six London stations


CircleSeven

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TVNewsCheck states that Gannett is buying six Texas stations owned by London Broadcasting for $215M.

 

Stations include KIII Corpus Christi, KBMT Beaumont, KCEN Waco & KYTX Tyler.

 

Yes, even though they did score big in acquiring the Belo acquisition, having Gannett acquiring the London properties seemed a bit off.

 

It makes me think, would they want to expand their Texas footprint and knock on Drewry's door and get some of their properties? London & Drewry only overlap in Waco, and Drewry has a current SSA in Wichita Falls.

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I'm starting to think they may consider keeping Spirit of Texas as an image campaign. They now have enough Texas stations (and, as of today, clearly have an interest in expanding in the state) that they may want to do that... Plus among the stations acquired, KIII and KBMT actually used the campaign.

 

They're also getting KYTX. Expect Gannett to put some money into improving that mess.

 

If they do go after Drewry it would add Amarillo, Wichita Falls/Lawton, and the Permian Basin to the portfolio with the need to sell off KXXV and possibly the SSA of KAUZ. But I strongly think Drewry would want to hold onto KSWO, as they built that as a radio station back in the 1940s. In addition Hoak sold off the KAUZ license to a shell company registered to a Lawton lawyer. Drewry, of course, planned to sell its stations to London back in 2008, which fell through (primarily because, you know, 2008).

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This maybe a long-shot, but maybe Gari Media Group could do "This is Home with The Spirit Signature" and I know its out of the question but Gannett

needs to revamp TXCN since there buying 6 London Broadcasting stations.

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KTXD seems an odd miss, since that would be a legal duopoly with WFAA...this really surprised me, I didn't think Gannett was interested in small markets.

 

They do own a small market station already. Isn't WMAZ Gannett's smallest station by market size currently?
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They do own a small market station already. Isn't WMAZ Gannett's smallest station by market size currently?

Their smallest of the bunch post-Belo is KTFT in Twin Falls (which is a semi of KTVB). The 2nd smallest (pre-Belo) is Bangor's WLBZ (a semi of WCSH).

 

This maybe a long-shot, but maybe Gari Media Group could do "This is Home with The Spirit Signature" and I know its out of the question but Gannett

needs to revamp TXCN since there buying 6 London Broadcasting stations.

That is what I'm afraid of. But then I'm really worried that Gannett could drop the ball and strip the Spirit theme off of WFAA/KHOU, and go hard on their regular TIH package. I hope that is not the case. Should Gari composed the new SoTX theme, it would probably be the worst rendition of the package since 615 did the first installment of Propulsion in late '06.

 

At any event, should these stations go Gari, this would be a blow for Arnold in his home turf, since all of the London stations use his themes (not that he has anything to complain about since he's scored many clients within the last couple of years).

 

But whatever they do cosmetically, I hope Gannett don't drop KIII's iconic circle-3 logo.

 

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and I know its out of the question but Gannett needs to revamp TXCN since there buying 6 London Broadcasting stations.

 

TXCN will sooner be closed than Gannett will do anything with it. It's one of those things that the Internet has made redundant. It'll only be useful the next time a hurricane strikes Texas.

 

Also KIDY is now their smallest station period, beating out Twin Falls. Post-London Gannett stations range in DMA rankings from 5 to 198, including ownership of the largest non-O&O by market size in American television (WFAA).

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Explanation on why KTXD was not sold: http://unclebarky.com/dfw_files/2e807643db49b4cd5d164de6aa63dde6-3098.html

 

A pretty bad explanation IMO. It is likely a big money loser despite being in DMA #5 (a dog station in a top market is usually worse than a top performer, or even a mid-ranked station, in a small market), and would be duopoly or speculator bait for sure. KTXD would be much better off under Gannett (in a legal duopoly position), especially now.

 

How do these stations perform in the ratings? I know WMAZ is a small Gannett station, but it is a 100-ton gorilla in Macon ratings, demolishing everyone else.

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One wonders how will Gannett grow KXVA and KIDY's news operations (staff, content and schedule-wise), since the company has no experience in running Fox affiliates. Both stations share the same news department (which London built from the ground up; mind you, before this year, they were only airing locally based news updates and simulcasts of the morning and primetime newscasts from KABB in San Antonio), and only air a half-hour primetime newscast (KXVA's airs at 9:00 p.m. and then that station produces a San Angelo-based newscast that airs at 9:30 on KIDY).

 

All of Gannett's other news-producing stations have a traditional newscast schedule, Fox stations' news schedules are more variable (even some, like KXVA and KIDY, that have functioning news departments). If they do add more news in the future, a KNPN-style news schedule might work for them given their market size.

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Is Gannett becoming the next Sinclair the grand scheme of things. So Gannett has this $$$ to buy stations, but what about the stations you already owned? Doesn't WXIA, KSDK, WZZM, KXTV, WUSA need some $$$ in their operations. Plus they just acquire the Belo stations and WCNC needs some improvements. What going on at the house of death star?

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Is Gannett becoming the next Sinclair the grand scheme of things. So Gannett has this $$$ to buy stations, but what about the stations you already owned? Doesn't WXIA, KSDK, WZZM, KXTV, WUSA need some $$$ in their operations. Plus they just acquire the Belo stations and WCNC needs some improvements. What going on at the house of death star?

 

 

I think there is a tax synergy they get from this deal as well, relating to assets they sold off with KMOV or something: "The transaction is also expected to provide Gannett with certain tax efficiencies following the recent sale of assets associated with KMOV in St. Louis."

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What the heck are they smoking? Buying those stations just doesn't mesh with Gannett's modus operandi.

 

 

...maybe Gari Media Group could do "This is Home with The Spirit Signature"...

 

I tried something like this a while back...believe it or not, it (at least partially) fits! Listen to WFMY's sample on the NMSA, and drop the signature in at about the 3.5 second mark. Timed the right way, it fits perfectly.

 

The other themes would probably need a bit of tuning to fit it in, but it could be done. It's just a matter of Gannett doing it.

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One wonders how will Gannett grow KXVA and KIDY's news operations (staff, content and schedule-wise), since the company has no experience in running Fox affiliates. Both stations share the same news department (which London built from the ground up; mind you, before this year, they were only airing locally based news updates and simulcasts of the morning and primetime newscasts from KABB in San Antonio), and only air a half-hour primetime newscast (KXVA's airs at 9:00 p.m. and then that station produces a San Angelo-based newscast that airs at 9:30 on KIDY).

 

All of Gannett's other news-producing stations have a traditional newscast schedule, Fox stations' news schedules are more variable (even some, like KXVA and KIDY, that have functioning news departments). If they do add more news in the future, a KNPN-style news schedule might work for them given their market size.

 

Before the acquisition, we did have plans on launching a 6 o'clock newscast before the end of this year, and another in the 1st quarter of next year. As far as I'm concerned, we're still on track for launching the additional newscasts. We actually wanted to launch the 6pm last month before May sweeps, but we really wanted to iron out the details and issues on the production side of things before moving on.

 

I can't really comment on the staffing, we haven't really heard much other than we all still have our jobs. Gannett seems like a great company, and I'm actually pretty excited to see what they have to bring to the table for smaller markets like KIDY/KXVA.

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Is Gannett becoming the next Sinclair the grand scheme of things. So Gannett has this $$$ to buy stations, but what about the stations you already owned? Doesn't WXIA, KSDK, WZZM, KXTV, WUSA need some $$$ in their operations. Plus they just acquire the Belo stations and WCNC needs some improvements. What going on at the house of death star?

 

 

Station acquisitions provide a much greater ROI than local investment do. Although we love things like new sets, etc. those provide little or, no ROI in the grand scheme of things. For example, almost all retransmission agreements allow the acquiring company to impose their "going rate" upon close. So, lets say London's retransmission consent agreements provide them 5 cents per subscriber for their stations and Gannett gets 20 cent per subscriber for their stations. Upon close providers would be paying the Gannett rate. So, in this example these 6 stations would see a 300% increase in their retransmission revenue....just by closing the sale. That provides an immediate ROI. And, of course the various synergies that can be achieved over time provide further ROI.

 

Plus, I don't know if this deal is being financed or not. But, that could factor into it. Meaning the money is earmarked for "acquisitions". If they were borrowing for "general funds" they are likely to get a less favorable rate and less money given the ROI is much more variable. On the other hand the ROI for acquisitions can usually be spelled out clearly. Meaning the banks are likely to see their money back sooner and with less chance of default.

 

Now, by no means am I implying that Gannett (or, any other group) shouldn't invest in their local stations. It's far from that. They still have to do what's best for the company first. By maximizing their Return on Investment(s) they can in turn funnel more of that down to the local stations. In some ways the "A rising tide lifts all boats" principal could be used here. Meaning if the company is doing well (or, better) then all the stations will do well (or, better) as the companies fortunes rise.

 

^This is a really over simplified "Holiday Inn Express" explanation. Hopefully, this helps.

 

 

I'm a bit surprised that the deal is going through, given KBMT's close proximity to KHOU. I take it there will be no contour overlap issues?

 

Signal contours really don't matter anymore. I brought this up here a couple months ago that the contours really only apply now when radio station & newspaper cross-ownership comes into play. Gannett doesn't own any radio stations and I don't believe they have a newspaper where the circulation overlaps the KBMT contour. So, there should be no issues with this deal.

 

 

All that said this deal is a little surprising given the size of the markets. But, given the synergies that can be achieved due to their ownership of stations in the "big" Texas markets it gives them a unique opportunity to "own Texas" (or, most of it anyway.) And, they are really doing it for (relatively) little investment.

 

Gannett: It's All Within Texas.

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Explanation on why KTXD was not sold: http://unclebarky.com/dfw_files/2e807643db49b4cd5d164de6aa63dde6-3098.html

 

A pretty bad explanation IMO. It is likely a big money loser despite being in DMA #5 (a dog station in a top market is usually worse than a top performer, or even a mid-ranked station, in a small market), and would be duopoly or speculator bait for sure. KTXD would be much better off under Gannett (in a legal duopoly position), especially now.

 

How do these stations perform in the ratings? I know WMAZ is a small Gannett station, but it is a 100-ton gorilla in Macon ratings, demolishing everyone else.

 

I think I know the reason why they passed over KTXD: the original programming. It's a

!
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WLTX and KTHV should give you an idea of how Gannett runs small-market stations: in short, pretty well. These were bottom-feeders when Gannett bought them. KTHV is now on top, IIRC; and while WLTX is still behind WIS, they are at least a contender which they never were pre-Gannett.

 

This is very good news for the people working at the London stations, they're about to be beefed up big time.

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