Gannett to acquire Belo

[A3N 996]

 

This is from an investor that's has the pension fund for the employess that are under this union, IBEW?

 

They'll probably feed the pension fund some money and let this deal go through. I don't think its all that serious. Some folks are just money hungry.

 

He's not being money hungry, he's being a good businessman/investor looking out for his union member's investment shares. Anyone that has a share in any company (big or small) will want to extract the highest/best deal possible. The article mentions that Gannett and Belo entered in exclusive negotiations for the purchase, which did not allow to see what the market (other potential buyers) would offer. For all intents and purposes, Gannett could have the highest offer if others had a chance to make a run at Belo but at this point we won't know.

*BTW in a somewhat unrelated example, investors of The Outdoor Channel rejected a bid by Stan Kroenke to buy the channel, they wanted him to offer more per share and he did and ultimately ended up with the channel. So it's not unheard of for investors to ask for more money per share when their company/organization is being sold.

[CircleSeven 1944]

And now we have a U.S. Senator showing her criticism about the sale. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D, WA) has some issue about the shared service arrangements with the overlap stations in the affected markets.

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

 

And now we have a U.S. Senator showing her criticism about the sale. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D, WA) has some issue about the shared service arrangements with the overlap stations in the affected markets.

 

Too little to late. Where were you, Senator, when Sinclair was buying Fisher, Newport and Barrington? When the one large station group who doesn't have their head's in baths of money wants to buy a station group to not even become the largest, but the 4 largest station group; who knows how to produce news with a degree of diversity, integrity and professionalism, why are you blocking our acquisition?

 

I've heard, read and seen that the broadcast industry (in its current form) is failing! Is time for us to regroup, to collect ourselves and move forward! The digital age is coming whether we like it or not. I know Sinclair has made an awful job of it. No doubt! However Gannett is the industry's way forward! If you convince the FCC to block this merger, I seriously wonder what your ulterior motives are. Could you be a lobbyist for Sinclair or NexStar who want to make their next move? Please tell me exactly what you are trying to do and where you are coming from because I am at a lost to your abrupt appearance before the FCC.

 

Thank you.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

If she is so concerned about this deal, indeed, where has she been with all the other ones, especially with Sinclair and Nexstar? Gannett-Belo (43 stations) will still be nowhere near as large as them.

[CircleSeven 1944]

 

If she is so concerned about this deal, indeed, where has she been with all the other ones, especially with Sinclair and Nexstar? Gannett-Belo (43 stations) will still be nowhere near as large as them.

 

By station count, Gannett is nowhere near where Sinclair & Nexstar is. But Gannett has already won because many of its they already (and will own post-Belo) stations are within the top-50 markets, while most of the Sinclair & Nexstar stations are mid-to-small market. Although Sinclair is trying their damndest to get its first top-10 market station, should they acquire WJLA and WDCW, from 50 miles away (I hope that's not the case). It's obvious why they want it. But it will nevertheless hit the fan.

 

Now the B&C states that Gannett wants to have more 'Homegrown Programming' similar to what Gannett, Cox and Scripps have done with RightThisMinute or The List. Gannett already have shows like Atlanta & Company and Colorado & Company on its current stations. What more Homegrown they can have? I hope they don't pull any of its big syndie shows. WXIA airs Wheel & Jeopardy. It would be stupid to drop those shows.

[channel2 869]

Colorado & Company is not any more "homegrown" than KUSA's newscasts. It's a paid-interview show that started as a reaction to WFLA's "Daytime" show. (Then again, it's not produced on the corporate level, though it seems to be mandated by Gannett, if the other "X & Company" shows are any indication.)

 

I admittedly don't know much about Gannett's management; I have heard that they've trimmed costs, but I don't think they're dumb enough to drop syndicated staples outright and then replace them with junk like Scripps has.

[CircleSeven 1944]

The Paperwork Is Up!!!!

 

Here's the thorough breakdown list of consents to transfer control of the stations owned by Belo Corporation of Dallas, Texas to the Gannett Company of McLean, Virginia. The paperwork includes the transaction description and merger agreement. Gannett will convert all of Belo's stock. After consummation, the Belo stations will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gannett. The paperwork (which was made on June 12, 2013, one day before it was publicly announced the next morning) was posted earlier this morning (6/20/13) on the FCC site.

 

Now with those transfer of control stations from Belo to Gannett proper, those are unaffected with interference with other paralleled media properties. Also all the licensee names of the Belo stations transferring to Gannett will stay intact after consummation.

 

The following Belo stations will be transferred to Gannett proper.

WFAA (ABC) Dallas - (WFAA-TV, Inc.)

KHOU (CBS) Houston - (KHOU-TV, Inc.)

KENS (CBS) San Antonio - (KENS-TV, Inc.)

KVUE (ABC) Austin - (KVUE Television, Inc.)

KING (NBC) Seattle - (King Broadcasting Company)

KONG (IND) Everett, WA - (KONG-TV, Inc.)

KREM (CBS) Spokane - (King Broadcasting Company)

KSKN (CW) Spokane - (KSKN Television, Inc.)

KTVB (NBC) Boise - (King Broadcasting Company)

WWL (CBS) New Orleans - (WWL-TV, Inc.)

WUPL (MyN) Slidell, LA - (Belo TV, Inc.)

WCNC (NBC) Charlotte - (WCNC-TV, Inc.)

WVEC (ABC) Hampton, VA - (WVEC Television, Inc.)

 

These following stations however are. Seven Belo stations will be assigned to a third-party entity, because Gannett already owns a parallel media property. Gannett owns a newspaper property in four of those markets (Phoenix - The Arizona Republic, Tucson - The Citizen, Louisville - The Courier-Journal & Portland - The Statesman Journal (Salem)), and have adjacent television property in two of those markets (Phoenix (KPNX) & St. Louis (KSDK)).

 

Of the seven, six of those will be licensed to Jack Sander through his Sander Media, LLC. Each of its stations will have licensees under a subsidiaries "Sander Holdings Co. LLC" and "Sander Operating Co. LLC" with a roman numeral in between the "Co." & "LLC". One other station will be licensed by Ben Tucker through Tucker Operating Co. LLC. The reasoning for KMSB & KTTU being licensed by different entities are because Tucson to keep its eight equally owned operators. All seven of them will also have (D/B/A WXXX Television) at the end of the licensee titles. From a separate asset purchase agreement, Sander will be paying Gannett $101.77M for the six stations. And from this APA, Tucker will pay Gannett $3.18M for KTTU.

 

An Interesting tidbit! Ben Tucker is this is the same person that owns outgoing Barrington-operated ABC stations WGTU/WGTQ Traverse City/Sault Ste. Marie.

 

Of the severity of the shared services & joint sales arrangements, Phoenix & St. Louis will have limited shared services (to keep both operations separate from their other television counterpart), while Portland & Louisville will have more of a formal shared services & joint sales agreements. In Tucson, Raycom will continue its Shared Services arrangements with KMSB & KTTU, but Gannett will provide limited services as they call it a "Transition Services Agreement", with both Sanger & Tucker will operate jointly with sales & administrative offices.

 

The following Belo stations will be assigned to Sander.

KGW (NBC) Portland - (Sander Operating Co. III, LLC)

KTVK (IND) Phoenix - (Sander Operating Co. II, LLC)

KASW (CW) Phoenix - (Sander Operating Co. II, LLC)

KMSB (Fox) Tucson - (Sander Operating Co. IV, LLC)

KMOV (CBS) St. Louis - (Sander Operating Co. V, LLC)

WHAS (ABC) Louisville - (Sander Operating Co. I, LLC)

 

The following Belo station will be assigned to Tucker.

KTTU (MyN) Tucson - (Tucker Operating Co., LLC)

 

Upon consummation, Belo will be under the same names like Pacific & Southern Company, Multimedia Holdings Corporation & Combined Communications Corporation as former companies that are now be structured under a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gannett. King Broadcasting Company survives, except for KGW. But I'm hoping the cooperation between KING 5 and KGW 8 continues to fly. I can't believe when its all over we will have two new owners in the deep Northwest. From Belo & Fisher to Gannett & Sinclair.

 

And I also hope that Gannett will continue to operate those three cable news channels TXCN, NWCN & Newswatch 15. The only one that could be doing most of the heavy lifting is NWCN, because Newswatch 15 air repeats to WWL's news unless otherwise, and TXCN show excerpts of news reports of the four Belo TX stations.

 

Now I just hope they will settle with those union investors so this deal will go through. We don't want anything like the Fisher shareholders dealing with Sinclair.

 

And finally (I know it's unrelated to the topic but) I missed this so bad!!

But we will be missing this the most. RIP.

 

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

Actually,

 

This will be going:

 

 

This will be staying:

 

And we will NEVER see this again:

[CircleSeven 1944]

Actually,

 

This will be going:

 

This will be staying:

 

And we will NEVER see this again:

You've completely missed my point on my last message. I cleared stated that I missed the old Gannett logo. And since Gannett is acquiring Belo, we will miss that too. I was never a fan of that new Gannett logo. Just like the new Comcast logo. Why these new logos have to be more clean and lean?!! We all know whose staying and going.

 

Just old logo nostalgia. That's why I mentioned it at the bottom, and nothing else.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

And I also hope that Gannett will continue to operate those three cable news channels TXCN, NWCN & Newswatch 15. The only one that could be doing most of the heavy lifting is NWCN, because Newswatch 15 air repeats to WWL's news unless otherwise, and TXCN show excerpts of news reports of the four Belo TX stations.

 

Gannett would be smart to get rid of TXCN and Newswatch 15. Especially TXCN, which is such a joke. Especially in this day and age, news from across Texas can be found online by going to the respective stations websites. Now, if TXCN was run like a legitimate 24-hour regional news network (like NWCN is currently run and how TXCN used to be run, then I would say keep it. But basically TXCN airs a commercial, a 3-minute weather report, 20 minutes from WFAA, another statewide weather report, a commercial, 15 minutes from KHOU, commercial, 8-9 minutes from KENS, weather, and 5-6 minutes from KVUE. I haven't seen TXCN in about 4 years because I don't have regular access to it (nor would I want regular access anyway) but at last check that's how it was.

 

They started this maybe in 2006 right after Hurricane Katrina. And it was gradual. For awhile, TXCN also featured original programming which made watching this channel somewhat enjoyable. For example, one of the shows was excerpts of old KHOU legal segments with Prof. Gerald Treece rolled into a 30-minute show. Another one was "Does it Work? with Quitta Culpepper" from KVUE which was basically various "Does it Work Wednesday" segments rolled into a show. Then they cut this altogether in favor of a straight wheel of repeated news updated twice a day circa 2010.

 

Or Gannett could reinvest into TXCN but I don't see it happening. Maybe formatting a channel similar to Gannett's THV2 in Little Rock. Gannett doesn't have any regional cable news networks in their portfolio now though so I can see them getting the shaft.

[AaronQ 259]

The Paperwork Is Up!!!!

 

Here's the thorough breakdown list of consents to transfer control of the stations owned by Belo Corporation of Dallas, Texas to the Gannett Company of McLean, Virginia. The paperwork includes the transaction description and merger agreement. Gannett will convert all of Belo's stock. After consummation, the Belo stations will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gannett. The paperwork (which was made on June 12, 2013, one day before it was publicly announced the next morning) was posted earlier this morning (6/20/13) on the FCC site.

 

Now with those transfer of control stations from Belo to Gannett proper, those are unaffected with interference with other paralleled media properties. Also all the licensee names of the Belo stations transferring to Gannett will stay intact after consummation.

The following Belo stations will be transferred to Gannett proper.WFAA (ABC) Dallas - (WFAA-TV, Inc.)KHOU (CBS) Houston - (KHOU-TV, Inc.)KENS (CBS) San Antonio - (KENS-TV, Inc.)KVUE (ABC) Austin - (KVUE Television, Inc.)KING (NBC) Seattle - (King Broadcasting Company)KONG (IND) Everett, WA - (KONG-TV, Inc.)KREM (CBS) Spokane - (King Broadcasting Company)KSKN (CBS) Spokane - (KSKN Television, Inc.)KTVB (NBC) Boise - (King Broadcasting Company)WWL (CBS) New Orleans - (WWL-TV, Inc.)WUPL (MyN) Slidell, LA - (Belo TV, Inc.)WCNC (NBC) Charlotte - (WCNC-TV, Inc.)WVEC (ABC) Hampton, VA - (WVEC Television, Inc.)

 

These following stations however are. Seven Belo stations will be assigned to a third-party entity, because Gannett already owns a parallel media property Gannett owns a newspaper property in four of those markets (Phoenix - The Arizona Republic, Tucson - The Citizen, Louisville - The Courier-Journal & Portland - The Statesman Journal (Salem)), and have adjacent television property in two of those markets (Phoenix (KPNX) & St. Louis (KSDK)).

 

Of the seven, six of those will be licensed to Jack Sander through his Sander Media, LLC. Each of its stations will have licensees under a subsidiaries "Sander Holdings Co. LLC" and "Sander Operating Co. LLC" with a roman numeral in between the "Co." & "LLC". One other station will be licensed by Ben Tucker through Tucker Operating Co. LLC. The reasoning for KMSB & KTTU being licensed by different entities are because Tucson to keep its eight equally owned operators. All seven of them will also have (D/B/A WXXX Television) at the end of the licensee titles. From a separate asset purchase agreement, Sander will be paying Gannett $101.77M for the six stations. And from this APA, Tucker will pay Gannett $3.18M for KTTU.

An Interesting tidbit! Ben Tucker is this is the same person that owns outgoing Barrington-operated ABC stations WGTU/WGTQ Traverse City/Sault Ste. Marie.

 

Of the severity of the shared services & joint shares arrangements, Phoenix & St. Louis will have limited shared services (to keep both operations separate from their other television counterpart), while Portland & Louisville will have more of a formal shared services & joint sales agreements. In Tucson, Raycom will continue its Shared Services arrangements with KMSB & KTTU, but Gannett will provide limited services as they call it a "Transition Services Agreement", with both Sanger & Tucker will operate jointly with sales & administrative offices.

The following Belo stations will be assigned to Sander.KGW (NBC) Portland - (Sander Operating Co. III, LLC)KTVK (IND) Phoenix - (Sander Operating Co. II, LLC)KASW (CW) Phoenix - (Sander Operating Co. II, LLC)KMSB (Fox) Tucson - (Sander Operating Co. IV, LLC)KMOV (CBS) St. Louis - (Sander Operating Co. V, LLC)WHAS (ABC) Louisville - (Sander Operating Co. I, LLC)

The following Belo station will be assigned to Tucker.KTTU (MyN) Tucson - (Tucker Operating Co., LLC)

 

Upon consummation, Belo will be under the same names like Pacific & Southern Company, Multimedia Holdings Corporation & Combined Communications Corporation as former companies that are now be structured under a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gannett. King Broadcasting Company survives, except for KGW. But I'm hoping the cooperation between KING 5 and KGW 8 continues to fly. I can't believe when its all over we will have two new owners in the deep Northwest. From Belo & Fisher to Gannett & Sinclair.

 

And I also hope that Gannett will continue to operate those three cable news channels TXCN, NWCN & Newswatch 15. The only one that could be doing most of the heavy lifting is NWCN, because Newswatch 15 air repeats to WWL's news unless otherwise, and TXCN show excerpts of news reports of the four Belo TX stations.

 

Now I just hope they will settle with those union investors so this deal will go through. We don't want anything like the Fisher shareholders dealing with Sinclair.

 

And finally (I know it's unrelated to the topic but) I missed this so bad!!

But we will be missing this the most. RIP.

 

KSKN is the CW affiliate over in Spokane. But wow that paperwork just came in fast.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

 

Gannett would be smart to get rid of TXCN and Newswatch 15. Especially TXCN, which is such a joke. Especially in this day and age, news from across Texas can be found online by going to the respective stations websites. Now, if TXCN was run like a legitimate 24-hour regional news network (like NWCN is currently run and how TXCN used to be run, then I would say keep it. But basically TXCN airs a commercial, a 3-minute weather report, 20 minutes from WFAA, another statewide weather report, a commercial, 15 minutes from KHOU, commercial, 8-9 minutes from KENS, weather, and 5-6 minutes from KVUE. I haven't seen TXCN in about 4 years because I don't have regular access to it (nor would I want regular access anyway) but at last check that's how it was.

 

They started this maybe in 2006 right after Hurricane Katrina. And it was gradual. For awhile, TXCN also featured original programming which made watching this channel somewhat enjoyable. For example, one of the shows was excerpts of old KHOU legal segments with Prof. Gerald Treece rolled into a 30-minute show. Another one was "Does it Work? with Quitta Culpepper" from KVUE which was basically various "Does it Work Wednesday" segments rolled into a show. Then they cut this altogether in favor of a straight wheel of repeated news updated twice a day circa 2010.

 

Or Gannett could reinvest into TXCN but I don't see it happening. Maybe formatting a channel similar to Gannett's THV2 in Little Rock. Gannett doesn't have any regional cable news networks in their portfolio now though so I can see them getting the shaft.

 

Maybe sell them to competitors:

 

*TXCN could go to a cable company since no other owner would have the same reach in Texas as Gannett, unless they want to return it to a 24-hour news channel. Perhaps collaborate with someone else (i.e. London Broadcasting) to allow smaller cities to have reach.

 

*Newswatch 15 could be sold to Hearst to work with WDSU, although Hearst has no other stations nearby to cluster with. Or perhaps Raycom if they want to enter NOLA somehow (since they have stations in a lot of adjacent markets)?

[TexasTVNews 1366]

In my opinion, I would like to see TXCN revamped with new staff, mew management and change to TXN: The TeXas News Network.

[CircleSeven 1944]

KSKN is the CW affiliate over in Spokane. But wow that paperwork just came in fast.

I knew I forgot to put KSKN come in play but I forgot to put in the right affil on there. Thanks for telling me, It's fixed now.

 

When the Nexstar/ComCorp deal was announced, the paperwork was posted the very next week, similar to this. Sometimes when its a very big deal, and when each station probably have different licensee names, they would have to file for each of the applications separate. Luckily the King stations (except for KGW), since they have the same licensee name, all three stations are in one paperwork. I'm not sure if the paperwork will be posted for the Young Stations merging with Media General. But I assume the paperwork will be involved to all station involved (Young & MG) because it will be a true merger, and most of the head will be Young execs.

 

In my opinion, I would like to see TXCN revamped with new staff, mew management and change to TXN: The TeXas News Network.

I hope they do something with TXCN because by the way it sounds, it sounds like an embarrassment.

[skbl17 188]

You know, there once was a TXN (Texas Network); it was different from TXCN in that it distributed programs to affiliate stations, rather than being a cable network. Unfortunately, it went bye-bye in 2000.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Network

[Samantha 2878]

The News of Texas was an idea that came a little too early and on too big a budget. Larry Johnson was overly ambitious.

 

I think it would be more challenging to launch something like TXN today economically, but at least the Internet makes it easier to gather and deliver the news.

[channel2 869]

How well do locally-focused cable news channels tend to do? I know NY1 seems to do well...

[TVIntheDesert 183]

 

How well do locally-focused cable news channels tend to do? I know NY1 seems to do well...

 

Bay News 9 in Tampa Bay does well for a cable-only news channel.

[mightynine 286]

 

Gannett would be smart to get rid of TXCN and Newswatch 15.

 

What's your reasoning behind getting rid of Newswatch 15? It's another outlet to sell ads, costs nothing on the programming side, and actually provides a decent service.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

What's your reasoning behind getting rid of Newswatch 15? It's another outlet to sell ads, costs nothing on the programming side, and actually provides a decent service.

 

Waste of cable space if you ask me. Cox could put another channel on cable channel 15 instead of just repeating newscasts. Same with TXCN, waste of cable space and nobody I know even knows it exists. I can't speak for New Orleans since I don't live there, and I don't how well WWL is with marketing this sevice, but marketing for TXCN in Texas is nonexistant. Like I said, no one I know knows it even exists.

 

Now if Newswatch 15 actually had live news, then this would be different. Also note, LNC in Norfolk, Virginia. Nobody watched that station so they pulled the plug a couple years back. Can see Gannett doing that with TXCN and NW15. Wouldn't surprise if they pulled the plug on NWCN either and just focus all their attention on the main channels.

 

 

How well do locally-focused cable news channels tend to do? I know NY1 seems to do well...

 

I remember when Time Warner Cable started "News 9 San Antonio" 10 years ago. They marketed it heavily and poured a lot of resources in it. They also partnered with Belo, mainly for sharing video content. News 9 had it's own studios and staff. Unfortunately Belo pulled out and so News 9 got canned. That was a shame, I loved watching it and thought they did a decent job. I don't why they could've gone it alone and kept it anyway. News 8 Austin, now YNN, was kept. Maybe Time Warner would want to start something up again, that'd be smart but Time Warner Cable and smart do not usually go together.

[CircleSeven 1944]

Waste of cable space if you ask me. Cox could put another channel on cable channel 15 instead of just repeating newscasts. Same with TXCN, waste of cable space and nobody I know even knows it exists. I can't speak for New Orleans since I don't live there, and I don't how well WWL is with marketing this sevice, but marketing for TXCN in Texas is nonexistant. Like I said, no one I know knows it even exists.

 

Now if Newswatch 15 actually had live news, then this would be different. Also note, LNC in Norfolk, Virginia. Nobody watched that station so they pulled the plug a couple years back. Can see Gannett doing that with TXCN and NW15. Wouldn't surprise if they pulled the plug on NWCN either and just focus all their attention on the main channels.

Newswatch 15 would air live WWL newscasts only if channel 4 is airing an event (either news or sports related) that their news is pre-empted on that timeslot. Other than that, they air repeats of the last newscasts that aired on channel 4. If it does get viewers, then why not keep it? But I'm worried more about TXCN because I thought it had a promise prior to the changes in the late 2000s.

 

Okay it's very important to read most of articles possible relating to the news. Here's Dave Helling's Kansas City Star article questioning, Will The FCC let this pass?

 

He even said this at the end:

 

So the FCC (and perhaps the Justice Department) might want to take a close look at the transaction.

 

Unless, of course, the rules for TV station ownership are actually a joke.

 

Oh.

It would not be a strong doubt that FTC & DOJ will look at this because of how both big those companies are. I hope I don't ever see a cross-station promotion: "CHANNEL 4 and CHANNEL 5. THE largest newsgathering in ALL of St. Louis."

[mightynine 286]

 

Waste of cable space if you ask me. Cox could put another channel on cable channel 15 instead of just repeating newscasts. Same with TXCN, waste of cable space and nobody I know even knows it exists. I can't speak for New Orleans since I don't live there, and I don't how well WWL is with marketing this sevice, but marketing for TXCN in Texas is nonexistant. Like I said, no one I know knows it even exists.

 

NewsWatch is pretty well known. It's been around since 1988, and I imagine Cox doesn't want to get rid of it.

[mattLAW 2]

 

NewsWatch is pretty well known. It's been around since 1988, and I imagine Cox doesn't want to get rid of it.

 

This may be off topic a bit, but do the ratings that Newswatch 15 get factor in to the overall ratings for WWL TV? And I don't think Newswatch 15 will be gotten rid of as it also serves as somewhat of a promotional tool for the WWL live newscasts.

[PelicanGuy 117]

To my knowledge, Newswatch 15 doesn't factor into the overall ratings. And yes, it's doing pretty good, otherwise Cox or WWL would have gotten rid of it. Not only is on Cox's cable system, but also Charter's lineup in St. Tammany Parish.

[CircleSeven 1944]

TVNewsCheck posted this speculation article about the possibilities post-merger, primarily St. Louis.

 

A couple of tidbit, the article states that Gannett has stated that it will end its production of KDNL's news shows at the end of the year. And it also mentions about the KTVI/KPLR's similar LMA and the sale of KTVI's parent company.