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Gannett to acquire Belo


roscoryan

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My question is was Belo that cash-strapped and desperate to look for a buyer like Fishers was for Sinclair, or were there other reasons in play?

 

We weren't looking for one! None of us were aware, investors or employees! I was certainly caught off card!

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Belo was said to be one of those companies that got its tires kicked frequently, and considering how long they've been around (and the size of their markets; DFW, Houston, Phoenix, and Seattle are all top 20 markets) I'd think they'd have held their own and said no to any offers. (Then again, that article mentions Media General as among those whose tires are kicked, and since then the Young thing has happened...)

 

I didn't see this coming either, admittedly. Though it wouldn't surprise me to see Post-Newsweek gone within a few years, at least...

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Belo was said to be one of those companies that got its tires kicked frequently, and considering how long they've been around (and the size of their markets; DFW, Houston, Phoenix, and Seattle are all top 20 markets) I'd think they'd have held their own and said no to any offers. (Then again, that article mentions Media General as among those whose tires are kicked, and since then the Young thing has happened...)

 

I didn't see this coming either, admittedly. Though it wouldn't surprise me to see Post-Newsweek gone within a few years, at least...

 

Post-Newsweek to Scripps, maybe?

 

Journal to Scripps, even?

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The other wrinkle in St. Louis is that Gannett does the news for Sinclair's KDNL. That's a LOT of media consolidation. I just can't see that passing FCC muster, even if KMOV's under a shell company.

 

Actually, part of me wonders if this could be what breaks the FCC's back and forces them to take a look at JSAs, SSAs, and the like. That would not be good for a lot of companies with stations in smaller markets, especially Sinclair and Nexstar. Would they all try to bail at once?

 

The other part of me wonders if Sinclair would try to grab KMOV and cry failing station to the FCC on KDNL. If they can get KOMO et al, I put nothing past them at this point.

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Post-Newsweek to Scripps, maybe?

 

Journal to Scripps, even?

 

A Post-Newsweek/Scripps merger would be interesting because it would mean that WXYZ and WDIV would all be under the same ownership.

 

Similar to what is going on now between KMOV and KSDK here in St. Louis.

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The other wrinkle in St. Louis is that Gannett does the news for Sinclair's KDNL. That's a LOT of media consolidation. I just can't see that passing FCC muster, even if KMOV's under a shell company.

 

Actually, part of me wonders if this could be what breaks the FCC's back and forces them to take a look at JSAs, SSAs, and the like. That would not be good for a lot of companies with stations in smaller markets, especially Sinclair and Nexstar. Would they all try to bail at once?

 

The other part of me wonders if Sinclair would try to grab KMOV and cry failing station to the FCC on KDNL. If they can get KOMO et al, I put nothing past them at this point.

 

God I hope not, I can handle Sinclair owning 1 station in this market but not 2.

 

Seems to be inevitable at this point though...sadly. This market is such a joke.

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This Jack Sander company apparently is going to run pretty independent stations, especially in Phoenix and St. Louis, so I don't think we're going to see a KMOV-KSDK Godzilla towering over the Gateway Arch any time soon.

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On Post-Newsweek/Scripps: if they want to enter Texas in TV and bulk up in Florida, they might be interested. I absolutely do not want there to be a WDIV-WXYZ operation, though. Detroit's local news situation is pitiful enough.

 

Someone on here mentioned the possibility of Scripps getting out (considering how small their group is and how they ended up with "the bean counters" as leaders), but I am not sure they would want to do that. The newspaper side of their company is shriveling up, and with the McGraw-Hill buy hinting at this direction, they may find it better to focus on TV.

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On Post-Newsweek/Scripps: if they want to enter Texas in TV and bulk up in Florida, they might be interested. I absolutely do not want there to be a WDIV-WXYZ operation, though. Detroit's local news situation is pitiful enough.

 

Someone on here mentioned the possibility of Scripps getting out (considering how small their group is and how they ended up with "the bean counters" as leaders), but I am not sure they would want to do that. The newspaper side of their company is shriveling up, and with the McGraw-Hill buy hinting at this direction, they may find it better to focus on TV.

 

That wouldn't even make any DAMN sense since they just what, bought like TWELVE TV stations? If Scripps buying twelve TV stations eventually led to them wanting to shrivel up and die, then Sinclair should've died out over 3 centuries ago.

 

But imagine a Scripps-Hearst merger! :p Hahaha! Kansas City would be a very interesting place indeed with KMBC and KSHB combining forces...

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Post-Newsweek to Scripps, maybe?

 

Journal to Scripps, even?

Or Scripps buys all the Allbritron stations sans WJLA/NC8, and then gets swallowed up by... or swallows up... Post-Newsweek or Journal?
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The promises of station independence ring somewhat hollow for me. It almost sounds like they're trying to blow smoke up the FCC's ass in order to get the deal approved. Then a year later, "business conditions will force them to consolidate" or something.

 

At the very least they should be forced to sell/trade KMOV and KTVK.

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Count me as another person who did NOT see this coming.

 

I said on another site that I didn't think any of the current major non-O&O stations groups -- Belo, Gannett, Hearst, Scripps, or Lin -- would merge or buy each other but rather acquire smaller station groups. Silly me.

 

The sad part is that I will likely never have the chance to live in a market that has a Belo station. Ah, well...

 

On the bright side, perhaps this will bring out the best of both companies, with Gannett looking at the way Belo's doing something and saying "Hey, we like how you're doing that. Keep doing it and help us do it with our other stations."

 

Does anyone else feel like we're seeing an arms race happening here?

 

Add myself to the list of "shocked/stunned/surprised" list of people with this big news. What's next: Post-Newsweek merging with Meredith??!!

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Post-Newsweek to Scripps, maybe?

 

Journal to Scripps, even?

If a Post-Newsweek merger with Scripps happened, they would have stations in almost every major Florida market (Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa, West Palm Beach), and I would also guess that the "Local" branding would go away along with it.

 

Now, a Journal/Scripps merger would be an interesting one as there would be almost no overlap between the station groups, though some of the smaller market stations might end up getting sold off as a result.

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Add myself to the list of "shocked/stunned/surprised" list of people with this big news. What's next: Post-Newsweek merging with Meredith??!!

That would be a shocker too, though I would think a Meredith/Hearst merger would make more sense not just on the television side, but on the magazine publication side as well.

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On Post-Newsweek/Scripps: if they want to enter Texas in TV and bulk up in Florida, they might be interested. I absolutely do not want there to be a WDIV-WXYZ operation, though. Detroit's local news situation is pitiful enough.

 

Someone on here mentioned the possibility of Scripps getting out (considering how small their group is and how they ended up with "the bean counters" as leaders), but I am not sure they would want to do that. The newspaper side of their company is shriveling up, and with the McGraw-Hill buy hinting at this direction, they may find it better to focus on TV.

 

Funny, I was thinking the other day that Gannett might buy PNS, despite a couple of sticky wickets in Detroit (WDIV/Free Press) and Jacksonville; but that's really all moot now with this deal. Scripps/PNS makes sense, it would give Scripps a station in each of the biggest markets in Florida; which would mean boo-koo bucks for the Lighthouse during election time.

 

Since we're talking hypotheticals, I got two companies that seem like a really good fit: Gray and Raycom (or Graycom, if you will). Two mid-sized groups with a large focus in the southeast, and little to no overlap. The only overlap I see (correct me if I'm wrong) would be in Knoxville, but WTNZ could easily be spun off to American Spirit.

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The promises of station independence ring somewhat hollow for me. It almost sounds like they're trying to blow smoke up the FCC's ass in order to get the deal approved. Then a year later, "business conditions will force them to consolidate" or something.

 

At the very least they should be forced to sell/trade KMOV and KTVK.

 

If they are ever forced to put KMOV on the block, I can't help but view CBS as a frontrunner.

 

It's not as if they gave up what was KMOX-TV by choice. Ted Turner's aborted hostile takeover of CBS + Laurence Tisch as CBS chairman = debt-easing sale of KMOX-TV to Viacom.

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1) The irony, is that I live in Denver, the home of the Gannett flagship. So in a way, my market news leaders will work for me! :D

 

2) I don't think quite as quickly as you think. WFAA and KHOU will probably keep Spirit of Texas. Propulsion V.2 was just commissioned. KGW, KING and KMOV will get a new graphics package, but G3 will likely design an entirely new one. The current package was designed with their current station roster in mind. With this big change, I would suspect that the entire gfx package is overhauled, but TiH will remain!

 

Additionally, I wouldn't be surprised if G3 is moved out of the KUSA building into something bigger. More graphic designers, supervisors, etc will have to be hired to fill station orders.

 

I'm looking forward to this new adventure!

 

 

1) Congratulations! Also, since G3 is based in Denver, the graphics hub will also work for you (in a way, that is)! ;)

 

2) Well, I wouldn't think so fast either, but it happens sometimes. WKYC started using Propulsion too (2012) before the 2013 re-standardization. I'm also inclined to agree with you on a new look post-Belo. The question is, if such a thing happens, would there be a chance that there would be a little more wiggle room graphics-wise compared to the current & previous Gannett GFX, or would it be just another run through the good'ol Gannett meat grinder? :lol:

 

I seriously think This is Home is one of the few good things that came out of the re-standardization, and I'll be alright if it stays! Honest question though, if WFAA and KHOU get to keep Propulsion, would it be safe to say that if a Gannett station (say, KARE,) wanted its own music or reuse an old theme, they would be allowed to? Or does Gannett have a group-wide deal with Gari that requires all Gannett stations to use This is Home?

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I see Post-Newsweek buying some more stations and expanding their portfolio, and if Scripps merge they should move in with Cox Media Group. Cox & Scripps both have ownership stakes in Travel Channel despite it Scripps Interactive cable side.

 

I thought Belo was one of the healthy broadcast companies out there, but I know everybody in shock. However can anybody not see this scenario;

 

#1 Hearst #2Cox #3 E.W. Scripps

KMOV 4 KTVK 3 KMOV 4

KTVK 3

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I'm not the only one in this thread who likes the current Gannett graphics, am I? They're worlds ahead of the 2008 stuff, and indeed a lot of local news graphics...

 

From what I've seen of it, the current Belo stuff is okay but rather conventional.

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On Post-Newsweek/Scripps: if they want to enter Texas in TV and bulk up in Florida, they might be interested. I absolutely do not want there to be a WDIV-WXYZ operation, though. Detroit's local news situation is pitiful enough.

 

Someone on here mentioned the possibility of Scripps getting out (considering how small their group is and how they ended up with "the bean counters" as leaders), but I am not sure they would want to do that. The newspaper side of their company is shriveling up, and with the McGraw-Hill buy hinting at this direction, they may find it better to focus on TV.

 

I was there; its a wonder the people on MIBuzzBoard always call them "Loco 4"

 

Though if they had to sell one of them off in such a hypothetical situation, I could see either one of them being candidates for becoming an O&O. WDIV; well you're already having fantasies of seeing Look F with the Detroit skyline in the backdrop; they've also had quite a history too. Meanwhile, WXYZ used to be an O&O, but was forced to sell after the Capital Cities merger. Now that they've got their old "backup" stations (WJRT and WTVG) out of their hands, would ABC like WXYZ to have a family reunion?

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Good points. On a side note, its sad to see that Gannett will get its hands on WFAA, KING and WWL. Let's hope that they don't mess these stations up.

God, I hope not. Gannett graphics on WWL? Creepy. And they ain't too long got that spanking new studio, which will likely be gutted.

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I'm not the only one in this thread who likes the current Gannett graphics, am I? They're worlds ahead of the 2008 stuff, and indeed a lot of local news graphics...

 

From what I've seen of it, the current Belo stuff is okay but rather conventional.

 

Yes. It's worlds beyond the Pyburn Film graphics. But first, understand these few things: I talked to Third Street Music. Apparently, Gannett was seeking the lowest bids for their graphics and music. The music and graphics were a package deal. Pyburn (I suspect) was developing the Axis System and wanted to test in on a station group. That is why Gannett got it's graphics cheap, and why the former news music package sounded poorly synthesized.

 

What KUSA was testing at 10 pm before the gfx/music overhaul was basically a proof of concept for their current 10 pm open, which is used at other Gannett stations as well. I disagree that, bar the full screen animation, is very good. There is no depth of filed on the U3s or L3s, the studio/field graphics are bland... It's fairly flat. It looks like something from my Algerbra lesson vids that I watched when I was 14. Very few gradients, light-flairs... I can go on.

 

 

 

I see Post-Newsweek buying some more stations and expanding their portfolio, and if Scripps merge they should move in with Cox Media Group. Cox & Scripps both have ownership stakes in Travel Channel despite it Scripps Interactive cable side.

 

I thought Belo was one of the healthy broadcast companies out there, but I know everybody in shock. However can anybody not see this scenario;

 

#1 Hearst #2Cox #3 E.W. Scripps

KMOV 4 KTVK 3 KMOV 4

KTVK 3

 

E.W. Scripps with KMOV? No. Neither with Hearst. But I can see KTVK going to Cox.

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I could see Hearst being interested in KGW and KMOV; they own almost as many NBC affiliates as ABC affiliates, and they already have two CBS affiliates. But I don't know if they'd want to run an independent station such as KTVK; their only indie station, WMOR, kinda sticks out as an oddity in their portfolio as it is. In fact, Hearst could easily sell WMOR to Gannett as part of a deal to get any stations. [Hearst would have to pass on WHAS, though, as they already own WLKY.]

 

Meanwhile, Hearst could also buy the Post-Newsweek stations. Well, except for WKMG, which another company would have to buy as Hearst already has WESH.

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Hearst is maxed out in Orlando; they have WESH and WKCF.

 

Also, light flares and gradients on the L3s and such would prevent them from being distinctive and to-the-point. The goal was to minimize clutter...

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