Nexstar...again

[Recovering Producer 99]

In hindsight, the fact that the KAZT/Phoenix deal was a time brokerage agreement and not a sidecar sale with an LMA is a pretty big clue that Nexstar knew the FCC was looking at the WPIX situation seriously and may have been aware this kind of proposed punishment was in the realm of possibilities. 

 

It is now a waiting game until March 31 to see if the Mission purchase of WADL/Detroit gets blown up. 

 

Whatever happens with WPIX and WADL, the real winners are lawyers getting lots of billable hours. 

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

7 hours ago, Recovering Producer said:

In hindsight, the fact that the KAZT/Phoenix deal was a time brokerage agreement and not a sidecar sale with an LMA is a pretty big clue that Nexstar knew the FCC was looking at the WPIX situation seriously and may have been aware this kind of proposed punishment was in the realm of possibilities. 

 

It is now a waiting game until March 31 to see if the Mission purchase of WADL/Detroit gets blown up. 

 

Whatever happens with WPIX and WADL, the real winners are lawyers getting lots of billable hours. 

 

The viewers too. Let's be clear. If we see what I hope are many unwinding of side-care LMAs, the viewers will be the winners.

 

This entire mass consolidation of stations has been awful for the viewers of local news. I know that these groups try to sell us synergy, but that doesn't work in local news, unless you are shutting down whole departments and consolidating their operations, but that's never good for local ad sales and local news. You can see this in the grocery industry as well.

 

Kroger's ownership of all of their stores is a disservice to the vendors and consumers. Their stores, regardless of state, look, sound and sell all of the same things. There's nothing local.

[MediaZone4K 1509]

On 3/22/2024 at 4:52 AM, AmericanErrorist said:

All the stations that Nexstar and Mission own in the other markets have been ruled to effectively be duopolies. Are any of these now in violation of the existing (if relaxed) duopoly rules?

Good question.

 

So to my understanding Mission Broadcasting is Nexstar's shell corporation which it uses as loophole to own more stations than the FCC ownership cap?

 

Overall, I'm surprised local television owners were allowed to get this massive in the first place. With the industry effectively being dominated by less than 10 companies, not only is it bad for the viewers but bad for the employees who want to leave a crappy company (like Nexstar) only to be confronted with them in almost every TV market.

Edited March 23 by MediaZone4K

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

On 3/23/2024 at 8:23 AM, MediaZone4K said:

Good question.

 

So to my understanding Mission Broadcasting is Nexstar's shell corporation which it uses as loophole to own more stations than the FCC ownership cap?

 

Overall, I'm surprised local television owners were allowed to get this massive in the first place. With the industry effectively being dominated by less than 10 companies, not only is it bad for the viewers but bad for the employees who want to leave a crappy company (like Nexstar) only to be confronted with them in almost every TV market.

 

This is a long-awaited reversal of Borkian Philosophy outlined in the book The Antitrust Paradox, where he insisted that monopolistic practices that harmed consumers would be sorted out naturally by the Capitalist system.

[Megatron81 179]

The viewers lose no matter what it isn't going to bring back competition what you will is Apollo like that don't care for local news other than the $$$ is all. And Apollo has run Cox Media into the ground or Byron Allen buying TV stations I don't see it as good news it's lose lose no matter what. The FCC still thinks it's the 60s and not 2024 as broadcast has a lot of competition mainly big tech which the FCC doesn't seem to get.

 

I'm guessing that you could see more brokerage deals with Nexstar or Sinclair if sidecars go away they will still have their grip on things as well. That is how I see it in my opinion.   

[gsrecaps 8]

More Nexstar CW and MyNetworkTV stations were added on YTTV yesterday (WCBD-DT2, WNCT-DT2, WTVW, WCIX, KSHV, WBTW-DT2 and KELO Xtra).

[Abraham J. Simpson 303]

Setting aside Nexstar/Mission for a moment, technology and generational shifts result in fewer eyes on all kinds of news sources. The pie has been sliced into far smaller portions, and consolidation didn’t cause that. 

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

On 3/30/2024 at 7:10 PM, Abraham J. Simpson said:

Setting aside Nexstar/Mission for a moment, technology and generational shifts result in fewer eyes on all kinds of news sources. The pie has been sliced into far smaller portions, and consolidation didn’t cause that. 

If anything, I think consolidation was a symptom of that technological shift. I suppose an excess of deregulation didn't help, but there's a reason why virtually all of the smaller and/or family owned TV station groups saw the writing on the wall and cashed out when they could. In the long term, it won't be viable to have a small piece of a smaller pie.

 

And forget news for a second; aside from sports and a few other exceptions, the vast majority of my entertainment fix comes from somewhere other than the four (and a half, if we're counting the CW) major networks.

[Abraham J. Simpson 303]

14 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

If anything, I think consolidation was a symptom of that technological shift. I suppose an excess of deregulation didn't help, but there's a reason why virtually all of the smaller and/or family owned TV station groups saw the writing on the wall and cashed out when they could. In the long term, it won't be viable to have a small piece of a smaller pie.

 

And forget news for a second; aside from sports and a few other exceptions, the vast majority of my entertainment fix comes from somewhere other than the four (and a half, if we're counting the CW) major networks.

This is such a great point…or points.

 

There is such an intertwined element between technology and business, and you can’t expect business to function like it’s 20, 30 or more years ago while technology jumps ahead in leaps and bounds. 
 

Nostalgia has its place, but it’s not a business strategy.

[mrschimpf 2051]

Henry Jessel has editorialized about WPIX; the short of it is 'how dare the FCC actually enforce its market cap rules instead of brushing them aside like they did under 45 and GWB and they should be PAYING Nexstar to run the market's lowest-rated news operation, which cannot survive any other way. Also Jessica Rosenworcel should be giving a medal to Perry Sook for trying to save wireline TV with NewsNation and saving the CW, rather than fining him', which is certainly...a view.

[Adam MadMan 277]

1 hour ago, mrschimpf said:

Henry Jessel has editorialized about WPIX; the short of it is 'how dare the FCC actually enforce its market cap rules instead of brushing them aside like they did under 45 and GWB and they should be PAYING Nexstar to run the market's lowest-rated news operation, which cannot survive any other way. Also Jessica Rosenworcel should be giving a medal to Perry Sook for trying to save wireline TV with NewsNation and saving the CW, rather than fining him', which is certainly...a view.

♪ Boot salad

yummy yummy ♪

 

At least some of the commenters are calling him out on his BS.

Edited April 1 by Adam MadMan

[mer764KCTV5 12]

I'm more confused about this whole case than anything else because the FCC would care more about Nexstar operating WPIX but yet at the same time, allow Coastal Television to aquire KTWO, do an mass firing like outta the end of the Mary Tyler Moore show, cut local news, and then lease SOME news operations to Newsnet outta Cadillac, Michigan. It's like, how is that helping anything? "Splitting up LMA's are good for some groups" unless you realize how to could be a little too messed up whatsoever especially if one of the stations had TRASHEY financial problems (like KNVN). I'm not saying that Henry or the FCC are correct in their decisions but it's like do we have to focus on that when it comes to Nexstar? Oh yea, since everybody is forgetting this, if Nexstar and/or Mission Broadcasting doesn't want to sell WPIX, they can sell any other stations to meet the cap/quota on Television stations. 

Basically, yea, FCC do better and actually care and do more research on stations before you request ownership groups to do some things. 

Sorry of this is long but damn, this is the dumbest thing in the world.

[mer764KCTV5 12]

https://northpine.com/2024/04/12/nexstar-sells-up-station-to-be-operated-by-abc-affiliate/

Well, WJMN-TV in Escanaba—Marquette is leaving ownership of Nexstar and to ... Ralph. M. Oakley out of Quincy, Illinois (?) and operated by the ABC affiliate. Huh, interesting.

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 743]

Nexstar has sold WJMN to Sullivan's Landing LLC, headed by former Quincy Media head Ralph Oakley, will be run by Morgan Murphy Media... sale is now pending per regulatory matters

Edited April 16 by MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie

[tyrannical bastard 3442]

4 hours ago, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

Nexstar has sold WJMN to Sullivan's Landing LLC, headed by former Quincy Media head Ralph Oakley, will be run by Morgan Murphy Media... sale is now pending per regulatory matters

It wouldn't surprise me to see Morgan Murphy move ABC and/or CW to WJMN.  It's a far better station to be broadcasting on than both WBKP and WBUP.  Also, merging news staffs would be a benefit, since WBKP and WBUP don't have that much to begin with. 

[mer764KCTV5 12]

21 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

It wouldn't surprise me to see Morgan Murphy move ABC and/or CW to WJMN.  It's a far better station to be broadcasting on than both WBKP and WBUP.  Also, merging news staffs would be a benefit, since WBKP and WBUP don't have that much to begin with. 

Yea, it doesn't make sense for WBKP/WBUP to be two different stations now, it made sense in 2005 but not in 2024.

[GraphicsMan 11]

5 hours ago, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

Nexstar has sold WJMN to Sullivan's Landing LLC, headed by former Quincy Media head Ralph Oakley, will be run by Morgan Murphy Media... sale is now pending per regulatory matters

That to get WPIX fully in their hands. Not gonna like WPIX has been saved because of Nexstar.

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 743]

2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

It wouldn't surprise me to see Morgan Murphy move ABC and/or CW to WJMN.  It's a far better station to be broadcasting on than both WBKP and WBUP.  Also, merging news staffs would be a benefit, since WBKP and WBUP don't have that much to begin with. 

Makes sense, since ABC 10 is a bare bones station that does literally nothing news wise....WJMN would do much better for ABC

[hmaxhanson 650]

1 hour ago, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

Makes sense, since ABC 10 is a bare bones station that does literally nothing news wise....WJMN would do much better for ABC

Checked the schedule, and its just 90 minutes of news, 6:30am, 6pm and 11pm. I'd assume its the bare minimum ABC asked the station for to remain an affiliate, but its the same ammount WNWO did before Sinclair did a mercy killing for the National Desk, back when they did news from WSBT's spare studios.

[tyrannical bastard 3442]

1 hour ago, hmaxhanson said:

Checked the schedule, and its just 90 minutes of news, 6:30am, 6pm and 11pm. I'd assume its the bare minimum ABC asked the station for to remain an affiliate, but its the same ammount WNWO did before Sinclair did a mercy killing for the National Desk, back when they did news from WSBT's spare studios.

On the other hand, the UP is a tiny market dominated by WLUC since the beginning of time.  WJMN's solo efforts are only a decade old, and WBKP/WBUP strongly pales in comparison (only dating back to 1996). 

 

Amazed thet Lilly was able to jumpstart their own operation for WZMQ after they snagged CBS from WJMN.

Edited April 17 by tyrannical bastard

[LexTVandRadio 412]

Move this if this doesn't belong here, but from Scripps to Morris now to Nexstar.

 

https://fox56news.com/station/the-lee-and-hayley-show-is-moving-to-fox-56-wdky/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2VmC7Zb56FaDnTT5d6ERMmzTv7IA4IaLrIb9Tc22CadaWnsXNgovX6j2w_aem_ATq8-sMbjuDMxMvbr7b2x3J1GGwGUlwT6qUuIcppjMN3jdt5TEknHxBLKGaYZ1c_somzI0UTdQ-r8jNGCb7Hw9fD

[mer764KCTV5 12]

3 hours ago, LexTVandRadio said:

Move this if this doesn't belong here, but from Scripps to Morris now to Nexstar.

 

https://fox56news.com/station/the-lee-and-hayley-show-is-moving-to-fox-56-wdky/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2VmC7Zb56FaDnTT5d6ERMmzTv7IA4IaLrIb9Tc22CadaWnsXNgovX6j2w_aem_ATq8-sMbjuDMxMvbr7b2x3J1GGwGUlwT6qUuIcppjMN3jdt5TEknHxBLKGaYZ1c_somzI0UTdQ-r8jNGCb7Hw9fD

Huh, interesting.

[NowBergen 485]

Aww, poor Nexstar... They got caught circumventing ownership caps.  With no other Nexstar station in the market, a bridge too far.  

 

https://www.nexttv.com/news/nexstar-urges-fcc-to-reverse-ruling-ordering-sale-of-wpix

[mer764KCTV5 12]

2 hours ago, NowBergen said:

Aww, poor Nexstar... They got caught circumventing ownership caps.  With no other Nexstar station in the market, a bridge too far.  

 

https://www.nexttv.com/news/nexstar-urges-fcc-to-reverse-ruling-ordering-sale-of-wpix

TL:DR: We ain't in the 1960s anymore Y'all. New York isn't in flames because WPIX isnt sold off yet.

 

Okay, so, I mentioned the Nexstar WPIX type of controversy on April 1st (and no, what I said wasn't a joke)

 

The FCC focusing on WPIX, a station which is only in the crosshair because of an LMA with Nexstar and not focusing on, well, I don't know... 

 

LOCAL news being taking AWAY in some rural areas (Wyoming) makes it looks like the broadcasting and ESPECIALLY the Television Broadcasting world seems to be semi-stuck in 1964. its like the ONLY Nexstar can do is to CANCEL the news department and sell it off to Sinclair and not compete in the market. 

 

Like, I've heard good stuff about KMBC's owners but not about WDAF? Like, should I explain that KMBC back in the day REMOVED an anchor because of her age in the 1980s under Metromedia ownership, then she sued Channel 9 only to lose after winning once because it's previous ownership was acquired by News Corp.?

 

I said this on the same day: "Oh yea, since everybody is forgetting this, if Nexstar and/or Mission Broadcasting doesn't want to sell WPIX, they can sell any other stations to meet the cap/quota on Television stations." I do think Nexstar knew about this and sold off WJMN to Sullivan's Landing LLC to NOT get in anymore trouble. (Like if that helped). 

 

Sometimes, the Broadcasting Universe makes me confused. I'm NOT saying Nexstar is doing an good job, nor is the FCC but focusing on other problems like WPIX's ownership and not on how local news may be affected negatively be ownership changes are stuff that get me confused. As what Megatron did say, it's not the 60s hence why I said that time period. 

 

WLBT ain't under investigation in 2024 so why should any one else now?

 

BTW, the length is a bit too much buti just want to say that really I still don't understand. 

[Rusty Muck 4162]

On 4/1/2024 at 11:45 AM, mrschimpf said:

Henry Jessel has editorialized about WPIX; the short of it is 'how dare the FCC actually enforce its market cap rules instead of brushing them aside like they did under 45 and GWB and they should be PAYING Nexstar to run the market's lowest-rated news operation, which cannot survive any other way. Also Jessica Rosenworcel should be giving a medal to Perry Sook for trying to save wireline TV with NewsNation and saving the CW, rather than fining him', which is certainly...a view.

So now we know Perry was that one superdonor that saved TVNewsCheck from oblivion. Sure helps to have influential people in your back pocket, doesn't it, Harry?