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Sinclair...Again


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Sinclair's starting to remind me of Clear Channel and their rampant consolidation in radio. And both of them have already been on the brink of bankruptcy...

Actually, they are reminding me more of the current iteneration of Cumulus Media, which is doing an equal amount of damage to radio (but rarely gets called out on it because they didn't do it first).

 

Clear Channel is a dying husk of a company that's all but bankrupt. They need to disperse of their small-market stations but are asking for too much.

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Remember News Central? Wonder if they're going to resurrect that trash heap?

Don't forget Armstrong Williams and the Newsmax clowns. (For full discloure interests, I hold a combination of conservative and libertarian views, and still, Newsmax is unreadable garbage with zero credibility.)

 

And wait until the reaction in Cleveland if Armstrong - an unabashed defender of Art Modell - gets the keys to WJW.

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Don't forget Armstrong Williams and the Newsmax clowns. (For full discloure interests, I hold a combination of conservative and libertarian views, and still, Newsmax is unreadable garbage with zero credibility.)

 

And wait until the reaction in Cleveland if Armstrong - an unabashed defender of Art Modell - gets the keys to WJW.

That would not go well I would imagine (much like if you make any defense of the Colts in Baltimore, or the Thunder in Seattle).

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That would not go well I would imagine (much like if you make any defense of the Colts in Baltimore, or the Thunder in Seattle).

To wit, Clevelanders celebrated Art Modell's death last September, and were rejoicing at him being denied induction into the Pro Football HOF. They will never forgive him, regardless of how much Baltimorians nag at them. It's a lifelong grudge for them.

 

Sinclair appointing an Art apologist (How much is Armstrong an Art apologist? He employs Art's adopted son on his own blog!) to run WJW would be tantamount to the North Koreans launching a nuclear bomb aimed straight at San Franscisco.

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I listened to the investor call they had a 3PM EST on Thurs and David Smith not worry at all about FOX/Aereo...David was asked how he felt about his stations and Portland and Seattle stations. He spoke well of Fisher and KOMO status... Another question was asked the rating standings, and he said Seattle is tops in their market (if you know the market KING been the leader) and he said he didn't have the Portland station in front of him, but it does well. Another question was asked with them getting some NBC affiliates and with the Olympics on the network do they see raking in alot of cash. He didn't say too much, but was elated they have alot of NBC affiliates on board. They've gone from 1 NBC affiliates to having alot....Then continue that they have alot of stations that are #1 being affiliated

with NBC or ABC...There CBS affiliates are working hard to being #1....Another question was asked about networks and the owners having to pay for the shows. He was very abrupt on that, but said CW shows they don't worry about. Another question was raised about the Fisher Stations current contracts with their current affiliates and it was said that 2014 all the contracts shall expire but elaborated that everything is strong and in place with the new stations the company will obtain-

 

It a sad day for Fisher Station KOMO and KATU will never be the same, because they will cut both stations left and right... The contracts for on air-talent will they be slashed as in money wise....I agree with the rest of you hoping the FCC will not approve this. LIN TV could of bought these stations except Portland and all could of been right. I'm hoping Local TV LLC will not give in to S*itclair , and those Local TV station should be sold by many owners...Those FOX affiliate stations need to be owned by Tribune

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Doesn't ABC have to approve of a sale of one of its affiliates to a new owner, in order for that station to continue as an ABC affiliate? I remember a few years ago reading about an ABC affiliate that was sold but the network said that any prospective owners must be approved/vetted by them in order to keep operating as an ABC affiliate. Keep in mind that Sinclair now has two pretty good chips to trade or sell in KOMO and KATU. If for some reason ABC refuses to re-sign their affiliation agreement with those two stations, then Sinclair can turn around and sell them. That being said if for some reason Sinclair hangs on to KATU and KOMO, the small market mindset/operating procedures will not work in those two markets. You have two stations in top markets and i'm pretty sure they aren't exactly on top of the ratings so any cuts they make will only erode the stations viewership even more.

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This is a question I've been wanting to ask here for a while: What do people on this board have against Sinclair and Nexstar? Fromm the complaints I've seen, it seems like they're prone to mismanagement of stations, but I'm sure there's more. Can anyone chime in?

Here is your answer why I don't like Nexstar:Look at Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Mission Broadcasting; they have plenty of stations that are under these kinds of agreements that Nexstar takes responsibility for one large station and Mission taking on another stations responsibility with these kinds of agreements. Let's take Evansville, Indiana,Joplin and Springfield Missouri and Little Rock, Arkansas. For example: Springfield's CBS affiliate is owned by Mission and its services are being handled by Nexstar's station in the Springfield area. In Joplin, the NBC Affiliate controls the ABC affiliate's and

they both air repetitive newscasts and have different anchors. In Evansville, Indiana, The ABC affiliate is owned by Nexstar and the

former FOX affiliate (that is now independent) is controlled by that station by this agreement that severed each stations newscasts and

formed an merger called "Eyewitness News" and this product in my personal opinion is an disgrace to people who don't want to

lose their jobs over mergers.And finally, Little Rock Arkansas, Nexstar and Mission just complete an sale from Newport Television in Little Rock Arkansas just last year and not realizing that Nexstar owned the NBC and My Network TV affiliate and wanted a four-way operations in which the FOX and CW affiliate were sold to a shell corporation called Mission Broadcasting. As an result, the FOX and CW affiliate's are being run by Nexstar and all of news, production, sales and master control operations of those two stations have been outsourced to other operations that Nexstar owns and/or operate.

 

Lets look at Sinclair Broadcasting Group:Look at Sinclair's Columbus and Dayton Ohio stations that it owns directly, Sinclair uses a shell

corporation to perform SSA/JSA procedures to operate duopolies that are not supposed to work in those markets at all and they abuse those operating agreements by creating more shell corporations to buy more stations that they don't have any money to purchase any more stations or station groups.

If a station has Cunningham and or Deerfield on it, it has SInclair written all over it! If it has Mission Broadcasting written all over it, It will have Nexstar written all over it!

If you think that Nexstar and Sinclair is a nice broadcasting corporation with friendly people, I think not! They run things very cheaply and that involves using and/or abusing operational agreements. Folks If you would like to see the two broadcasting companies be broken up, NOW is the time to file an complaint with the FCC! here's the link https://esupport.fcc.gov/ccmsforms/form2000.action?form_type=2000E Make it Happen!

 

 

$3 Billion in debt... I don't think I'd worry about Sinclair for too much longer. How are they going to handle all of that debt? Just give it some time and all of this binge buying will catch up with Sinclair.

You better be worried about Sinclair right NOW, because I would like to see them be bankrupt to the point that they sell all of their stations!
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Let's see the comments from the locals in Seattle about the Fisher takeover. Some comments are politically driven, obviously.

here's one that I have to physically agree on:

"What is true is that Sinclair is over $3B in debt. They're spending money they don't have."

** Three Billion Dollars in debt, ladies and gentlemen, that's right 3 billion dollars, shoul've been smart enough to pay off first.**

I personally agree that they don't have the money in the bank to buy more stations in the first place and should've been smart enough to stop while they are ahead and what's next, Sinclair buying LOCAL TV's stations outright? I hope not because I would like to not see the copyright change from Local TV, LLC to Sinclair Broadcasting Group at the end of their newscasts. If my memory serves in a nonjudgmental way, Sinclair used to own and operate an TV Station in Kansas City until 2005.

 

Folks, Again I would understand why Sinclair is a big hot mess and runs their stations cheaply and yeah, we need a another Sinclair meme with the news anchor making the sale announcement to Sinclair, that would make everyone laugh!

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One complaint from each of us is hardly going to put a drop in the FCC bucket. I'm creating a White House Petition. I'll keep everyone posted. And I'll post a new thread on this forum! ;)

Taking your lead on this, SamUnreel, I created petitions on Change.org and WethePeople.gov to urge the FCC to change its ownership laws to make sure that station groups serve the public interest and reprimand those that abuse the ownership rules.

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Let's see the comments from the locals in Seattle about the Fisher takeover. Some comments are politically driven, obviously.

From said article:"Sinclair is the largest independent TV broadcaster in the country, and we believe its commitment to the industry along with its greater scale and sizable resources will provide our stations, team members and business partners with new opportunities to flourish," said Colleen Brown, Fisher's President and CEO."

 

Right Colleen. This has absolutely nothing to do with the premium trade your investors, and **Cough** probably yourself **cough** are making here. It's about the benefits to the industry and opportunities your stations will have to flourish. Nevermind that your mom & pop station group is being taken over by the Walmart of broadcasting, because I'm sure you know nothing about Walmart!

 

Walmart puts smaller chains out of business by bringing in massive stores to small towns and charging cut-rate prices for mediocre products. Once they have put the smaller chains out of business, Walmart increases their prices and cuts product quality to the bare bone. Because, hay! Who else are you going to buy from when they are the only game in town? Sinclair has an identical mentality. Except, instead of putting the local competition out of business, they buy them! Why have 1 Walmart in a small town when you can have 6?! Why control 114 stations, when you can control 134?!

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Taking your lead on this' date=' SamUnreel, I created petitions on Change.org and WethePeople.gov to urge the FCC to change its ownership laws to make sure that station groups serve the public interest and reprimand those that abuse the ownership rules.

I signed both petitions and I hope the FCC and the White House would see this.
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here's one that I have to physically agree on:

"What is true is that Sinclair is over $3B in debt. They're spending money they don't have."

** Three Billion Dollars in debt, ladies and gentlemen, that's right 3 billion dollars, shoul've been smart enough to pay off first.**

I personally agree that they don't have the money in the bank to buy more stations in the first place and should've been smart enough to stop while they are ahead and what's next, Sinclair buying LOCAL TV's stations outright? I hope not because I would like to not see the copyright change from Local TV, LLC to Sinclair Broadcasting Group at the end of their newscasts. If my memory serves in a nonjudgmental way, Sinclair used to own and operate an TV Station in Kansas City until 2005.

 

Folks, Again I would understand why Sinclair is a big hot mess and runs their stations cheaply and yeah, we need a another Sinclair meme with the news anchor making the sale announcement to Sinclair, that would make everyone laugh!

Sinclair used to own KSMO before they sold it to Meredith in 2005.

 

I still can't figure out what they're thinking with this buying spree, especially since they have to take out loans to complete these purchases.

 

Anyone have any idea what Sinclair is thinking?

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I know nothing about this group, but it certainly would be good news if true. Finally, a voice in the prog wilderness telling the truth of what is going on.

There's one of the comments on the KOMO site. If she knew anything about Sinclair....
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For me it's the combination of the two. Sinclair is horrendously cheap but the fact that they force their political opinions to the viewer in the form of GOP infomercials (like the ones on John Kerry and Obama) and Town Hall Meetings that only cover one side of the argument aren't doing the viewers any favors either. Which is why even though I didn't like Nexstar's buying spree, it didn't bother me as much since they aren't as blatantly partisan with their covering.

 

Local TV News needs to be as objective as possible and when you have a station that already has an established bias to one end of the political spectrum, it's hard for them to be objective and in the end, the viewer loses.

 

I would be saying this if Sinclair was a left-wing biased outlet as well.

Fair enough -- and, as someone who considers himself to be in the middle third of the country politically [i usually say I'm center-right, with an increasing emphasis on the "center" part], I'm inclined to agree with you on all of that. [i have NO use for the cable news-talk channels.]
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Taking your lead on this' date=' SamUnreel, I created petitions on Change.org and WethePeople.gov to urge the FCC to change its ownership laws to make sure that station groups serve the public interest and reprimand those that abuse the ownership rules.

I signed both petitions and I hope the FCC and the White House would see this.

Unfortunately, this is the same FCC, FTC and White House that gave a rubber stamp to the Comcast/NBCUniversal abomination. So that petition will barely be worth the 1-ply toilet paper it is printed on.

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I know nothing about this group, but it certainly would be good news if true. Finally, a voice in the prog wilderness telling the truth of what is going on.

 

There's one of the comments on the KOMO site. If she knew anything about Sinclair....

She must be one of Armstrong Williams' relatives. That's the only possible explanation. :p
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Unfortunately, this is the same FCC, FTC and White House that gave a rubber stamp to the Comcast/NBCUniversal abomination. So that petition will barely be worth the 1-ply toilet paper it is printed on.

Crap, there is always a catch.
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It just kind of occurred to me that the Syracuse, NY market will almost totally be SinFair if these sales are approved and finalized. Sinclair already owns WSYT Fox 68. They are selling the station to Cunningham, but plan to still operate the station after the sale. Sinclair is also buying all of the Barrington stations... this includes WSTM NBC 3 and WSTQ CW 6. Barrington currently operates WTVH CBS 5. Sinclair is attempting to buy the LMA and SSA of WTVH.

 

The only other station in the market is WSYR ABC 9... a Nexstar station as of late 2012. :smash: At least, however Newschannel 9 is the least Nexstar-y station in the country. They don't have the crappy website where you can rate stories according to feelings. They don't have the horrible website names like PAHomepage or YourFourState. They don't have a Stephen Arnold piece for their open. It's just not like Nexstar.

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