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Allbritton could be selling too.......


tyrannical bastard

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Allbritton has decided to join the party, and has put themselves on the block.

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/67198/allbritton-puts-itself-on-the-block

 

For WJLA, this could be a station that ABC may be interested in....seeing how it is run as an O&O and is ABC's third largest (and longest tenured) affiliate, next to WFAA in Dallas and WCVB in Boston.

...and doing so would keep a rapidly growing broadcast company up the road in Cockeysville from having a base here...

 

As for the others...we can only hope it's safe to assume that Nexstar is NOT interested in KATV, but who knows?

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B&C is stating within the hour that Allbritton is exploring its options, which could include selling their company.

 

Chairman Robert Allbritton stated to the stations, the reasons were a high demand for television properties, and a heavy trend towards media consolidation.

 

So Robert Allbritton wants to give in and sell the Kingdom his late father built. SMH. But the article states that there's no guarantee that they'll actually going to sell those stations.

 

Should they sell, I know two companies that can possibly get WJLA. Y'all can probably guess the two off the back. The one that scored an acquisition back in 2011, that familiar Lighthouse. And the other one, longshot. A familiar mouse.

 

The Lighthouse could take the whole platter. While the Mouse might only want the giant cheedar.

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HulkieD already said this before, but it requires repeating: Disney (ABC's parent company) does NOT buy TV stations. Period. So, please drop it.

 

With that said, I'm thinking that either Scripps, Hearst, or possibly Lin, should make a play for those Allbritton stations, especially WJLA in DC. The only exceptions being that Scripps could not acquire KTUL in Tulsa since they own KJRH; Hearst could not acquire WHTM in Harrisburg since they own WGAL; and Lin could not acquire ABC 33/40 in Birmingham since they own WIAT.

 

Worst case scenario: the ever hungry Sinclair buys up the Allbritton stations.

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In before "COULD ABC BUY WJLA?!?!?!?!?"

I think WJLA qualifies as a serious contender...seeing how Allbritton has run them as a virtual O&O for the last decade or so. In a place like Washington, what network wouldn't want to own a station there?

 

And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that "ABC does not buy stations....ever", and why I can single out WJLA because of it's size and location.

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I think WJLA qualifies as a serious contender...seeing how Allbritton has run them is a virtual O&O for the last decade or so. In a place like Washington, what network wouldn't want to own a station there?

Yeah, it's been said repeatedly that ABC NEVER buys stations, but I still wouldn't rule them out entirely. Is it unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.

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HulkieD already said this before' date=' but it requires repeating: [b']Disney (ABC's parent company) does NOT buy TV stations. Period.[/b] So, please drop it.

 

With that said, I'm thinking that either Scripps, Hearst, or possibly Lin, should make a play for those Allbritton stations, especially WJLA in DC. The only exceptions being that Scripps could not acquire KTUL in Tulsa since they own KJRH; Hearst could not acquire WHTM in Harrisburg since they own WGAL; and Lin could not acquire ABC 33/40 in Birmingham since they own WIAT.

 

Worst case scenario: the ever hungry Sinclair buys up the Allbritton stations.

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Strategically, Albritton would make perfect sense with Hearst's portfolio; Albritton has a strong top 10 market, a bigger hold in the South and is heavily ABC. Though I wonder if this finally might be the ABC station grab Meredith will succeed at (they were thisclose to getting McGraw Hill and explored the Fisher stations). There would be no carryover in any other markets and they are a station group that does invest actively in their stations.

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I would like to see Belo purchase 4 of the Allbritton stations; WJLA, KATV, WHTM and KTUL.

Is Belo in a buying mood? I wouldn't mind them buying more stations. They've done a great job running stations like KMOV and WWL and I imagine they will keep up the high quality newscasts that WJLA is known for.

 

My other question is that will all the stations be sold to the same group at the same time or is it possible it'll be like Newport where 2 or 3 different buyers split up the station group?

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I would like to see Belo purchase 4 of the Allbritton stations; WJLA, KATV, WHTM and KTUL.

Doubt Belo would be interested in moving into a market like Little Rock or Tulsa--certainly not Harrisburg. Washington--maybe, but not likely.

 

WHTM going Nexstar wouldn't be out of the question IMHO--they could pair it with their existing station WLYH, ending Sinclair's LMA.

 

EDIT--forgot Scripps owns KJRH, so they couldn't buy KTUL.

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Doubt Belo would be interested in moving into a market like Little Rock or Tulsa--certainly not Harrisburg. Washington--maybe, but not likely.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if Scripps made a play for KTUL. It fits with their stations in other mid-sized, Midwestern markets (i.e. Kansas City, Indy). WHTM going Nexstar wouldn't be out of the question either--they could pair it with their existing station WLYH, ending Sinclair's LMA.

In Tulsa, Scripps already has KJRH, unless they sell it, I don't see Scripps wanting two Big 3 stations in the same market.

I could see Hearst picking up KTUL, giving KOCO a sister station in Oklahoma. (Kinda like Griffin with KWTV-KOTV)

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I would like to see Belo purchase 4 of the Allbritton stations; WJLA, KATV, WHTM and KTUL.

Does Belo still have the Washington news bureau? If so, then I could see how WJLA would make sense...

 

As for Sinclair, this could be their chance to get into all three of VA's largest markets with WSET.

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Does Belo still have the Washington news bureau? If so, then I could see how WJLA would make sense...

 

As for Sinclair, this could be their chance to get into all three of VA's largest markets with WSET.

From this TVNewsCheck article earlier this month, Sinclair is considered one of the leading candidates of the Grant Stations. So if not that, they'll probably get WFXR/WWCW.

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If they are really interested, i'm sure that Scripps can make a play for the group. They could sell KTUL or KJRH or say that they intend to do so as a condition for the sale to close and getting FCC approval.

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This should be interesting. If WJLA goes to Belo, Hearst, Scripps, Disney/ABC, or Hubbard*, I'd actually watch them! But I have my money on Post-Newsweek as they screwed up by selling WUSA and they probably have been eyeing the market for quite some time.

*Don't rule them out. They own their radio partners WTOP.

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Wow. I'm surprised that the message about Disney buying ABC any more stations has gotten through to everyone. Thanks. :)

 

So I'm going to surprise everyone and say this is probably the one, big, exception. Disney does not buy stations, yes, and they wouldn't buy the whole of the Albritton group. But if WJLA is on the market... it would be crazy to rule ABC out of any deal for this.

 

Why? Location, location, location. This is in market #9. Save for WTVD and KFSN, which apparently perform group functions, none of ABC's stations are below number ten.

 

What else is in Washington, DC? ABC News' Washington bureau. I'm not sure what the benefits of combining those would be but there would be some efficiencies, I'm sure. Plus having their own station in the area would enhance their reporting of any breaking news stories involving Washington.

 

Lastly, I would not be completely surprised if the agreement between Albritton and ABC in 1995 gave the network right of first refusal to buy the group in the event it put it up for sale. I do not think they are interested in anything other than DC.

 

And I think there's another name we should consider. What if CBS wants their own station in DC? They've just done it on the radio side (though to middling ratings), and they like to have TV stations where they run their all newsers. Now, JLA reupped with ABC until 2017 at least. I don't know how long CBS has to go on their contract with Gannett. Those things can be negotiated fairly quickly.

 

Fact is, Washington is a big market that O&Os tend to operate in. I would have to think that ABC and even CBS are giving this long looks. All depends on if he unloads all of it or if he unloads it in pieces.

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Does Belo still have the Washington news bureau? If so, then I could see how WJLA would make sense...

 

As for Sinclair, this could be their chance to get into all three of VA's largest markets with WSET.

Part of me is shuddering at the amount of debt Sinclair would have to take just to buy WJLA.

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I think WJLA qualifies as a serious contender...seeing how Allbritton has run them as a virtual O&O for the last decade or so. In a place like Washington, what network wouldn't want to own a station there?

 

And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that "ABC does not buy stations....ever", and why I can single out WJLA because of it's size and location.

I don't think it matters THAT much to have an O&O in Washington, DC. After all, CBS hasn't owned what is now WUSA since they ended a joint-venture with the WaPo in the 1950s, and seem to be satifisfed with WJZ.

 

Also, if WJLA has been run like a virtual O&O for as long as they have, wouldn't that make ABC not want to buy it? After all, Allibitron has been doing all the work and spending all the money on ABC's behalf.

 

This should be interesting. If WJLA goes to Belo, Hearst, Scripps, Disney/ABC, or Hubbard*, I'd actually watch them!

*Don't rule them out. They own their radio partners WTOP.

BINGO.

 

WJLA and WTOP have had a very close working relationship in recent years (ABC7 provides weather to WTOP, and WTOP will start providing traffic to ABC7 in the coming weeks). The synergies with both outlets already exist.

 

Also, whomever buys Allibritron gets Politico. No doubt WTOP and Federal News 1500 would give select appendages to be paired with Politico. It's also why I would consider Belo, Scripps and Hearst, all of whom have strong newspaper lineages, well before Disney.

 

Strike that. Allibritron isn't selling Politico, per DCRTV.

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