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LIN is merging with Media General


CircleSeven

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Mobile- #59 The tale of two cities because you have Pensacola where Sinclair owns (4) stations in that market and WEAR does well and WPMI has been able to make some big gains. Everybody looking at WKRG but if Raycom look hard they could take WPMI away, because WPMI is owned by Deerfield which is the bad cousin linked to Sinclair. WPMI would benefit more vs WKRG, but who would want WKRG if that was to happen????

 

 

WEAR/WFGX is in Pensacola, while WPMI/WJTC is in Mobile, almost 60 miles apart and focus their energy on their respective part of the market as totally separate operations. Because of this, they make a good case to allow a JSA/SSA.

 

However, WALA/WFNA and WKRG are literally one interstate exit away from each other in Mobile, and focus most of their energy covering the Alabama side of the market. No JSA/SSA would ever allow them to join forces because of their place in the market.

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In a statement that we (employees) got this morning it said that the LIN values will transfer over to the new "Media General."

Vince Sadusky wants his stations to look good, I think ALOT will change in the next year more so with the existing Media General stations to get them up to Sadusky's standards.

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Also it's amusing to see everyone get shocked at the continuing consolidation of the industry...

 

Or see Hearst continue to be brought up as potential buyer. You would've thought if they're interested in stations at this point, they would've already acquired some. They're a dark horse at this point.

Agreed. For failing to pursue any M&A over the past two years, Hearst is for all intents and purposes staying put with what they have.
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http://mediageneral.com/investor/anrpts/2013/MG2013ar.pdf

 

Media General has their 2013 annual report posted on their website. On page 5 of their 10K report, it lists their operations and how they rank in their markets (based on Nov 2013 sign on sign off ranks)

 

In their conflict markets...

 

WKRG is #1 with a 14% audience share.

 

WVTM is #4 with a 4% share.

 

WSAV is #2 with a 11% share.

 

WJAR is #1 with an 11% share.

 

WBAY is #1 with a 16% share.

 

 

I looked on LIN's site, but they only have their 2012 report posted and it does not list market ranks.

 

Of these stations, WVTM is certain to be divested in favor of keeping WIAT based on these numbers.

 

WSAV looks to be a sure thing too, since the only station higher than them in the market is long-dominant WTOC.

 

WJAR is clearly the dominant station in Providence, but WPRI/WNAC could be a tough decision to make, especially if Sadusky is running the show. And does WLNE suck so badly that WNAC beats them in the ratings?

 

WBAY's dominance also calls into play whether or not WLUK / WCWF is kept. How does WFRV do in the market?

 

WKRG is still a tossup in my book. They may be number 1 based on this, but WALA trounces them in the mornings and it's a horse race at 5 and 6.

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And does WLNE suck so badly that WNAC beats them in the ratings?

 

They were looking good when Global Communications was the owner, but ever since Citadel took over, they have sucked. Considering that Nexstar just closed on WOI, WHBF and KCAU, that station, along with KLKN, will probably be sold sooner than later.

 

 

How does WFRV do in the market?

 

To me, the Green Bay/Appleton market is split into 2 pairs. WBAY and WLUK being the top pair and WFRV and WGBA being the bottom pair, with a clear gap between them. But I don't know a whole lot about the market, so I could be mistaken.

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In a statement that we (employees) got this morning it said that the LIN values will transfer over to the new "Media General."

Vince Sadusky wants his stations to look good, I think ALOT will change in the next year more so with the existing Media General stations to get them up to Sadusky's standards.

 

Vibe I'm getting from this is that Kathy Moshler-Boule's position is safe...
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To me, the Green Bay/Appleton market is split into 2 pairs. WBAY and WLUK being the top pair and WFRV and WGBA being the bottom pair, with a clear gap between them. But I don't know a whole lot about the market, so I could be mistaken.

You pretty much nailed it. If Wikipedia is any indicator of local news ratings, then WFRV has usually been third. WBAY has mostly been #1 and WLUK #2 (Good Day Wisconsin is apparently the exception---WBAY's morning show is pretty staid by comparison!). WGBA has been in the toilet since they got into news, though I feel they've been working to improve things (re-establishing a local sports department, and particularly hiring Larry McCarren to run it, is a good example).

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http://mediageneral.com/investor/anrpts/2013/MG2013ar.pdf

 

Media General has their 2013 annual report posted on their website. On page 5 of their 10K report, it lists their operations and how they rank in their markets (based on Nov 2013 sign on sign off ranks)

 

In their conflict markets...

 

WKRG is #1 with a 14% audience share.

 

WVTM is #4 with a 4% share.

 

WSAV is #2 with a 11% share.

 

WJAR is #1 with an 11% share.

 

WBAY is #1 with a 16% share.

 

 

I looked on LIN's site, but they only have their 2012 report posted and it does not list market ranks.

 

Of these stations, WVTM is certain to be divested in favor of keeping WIAT based on these numbers.

 

WSAV looks to be a sure thing too, since the only station higher than them in the market is long-dominant WTOC.

 

WJAR is clearly the dominant station in Providence, but WPRI/WNAC could be a tough decision to make, especially if Sadusky is running the show. And does WLNE suck so badly that WNAC beats them in the ratings?

 

WBAY's dominance also calls into play whether or not WLUK / WCWF is kept. How does WFRV do in the market?

 

WKRG is still a tossup in my book. They may be number 1 based on this, but WALA trounces them in the mornings and it's a horse race at 5 and 6.

One thing to note is that WPRI has the CBS lineup and the AFC rights in a market within the shadow of the New England Patriots. WJAR does well in spite of having to be an NBC affiliate.

 

Is it possible that MG tries to swap affiliations with WPRI and WJAR, keep WNAC, and THEN spin off an NBC-affiliated WPRI? Get the best of both worlds that way. (Remember that CBS did flip WPRI from their long-running ABC affiliation back in 1995 when the station was an O&O for a literal cup of coffee.)

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A cup of coffee? What?

CBS owned WPRI for ten months from 1995-1996, having sold off the station to Clear Channel due to the Group W/CBS merger, obviously because of overlap with Group W's WBZ-TV. Prior to 1995, WPRI (and it's antecedent WPRO-TV) was an ABC affiliate dating back to Capital Cities ownership.
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For some reason, WFNA could be a bargaining chip in Mobile. Since Media General is heading toward one of their goals of having secondary stations in their own market, keeping WKRG and acquiring WFNA can unlock many opportunities for WFNA that they could not realize paired with WALA.

 

A big one is having a second channel to expand news to. WKRG has been landlocked in this for years due to CBS programming and being a solitary station. Their last attempt at competing with WALA in the mornings was done away with in 2008 when CBS demanded their affiliates to air the entire "Early Show".....and having WWL down the road doing their thing probably made this demand even fiercer.

 

Acquiring WFNA gives them a chance to expand into morning news again and compete directly with WALA (if it is spun off to another owner).

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The next thought: who could buy all of the assets together if they wanted to?

 

Raycom - frequently mentioned for Mobile - has no assets in the Northeast or Upper Midwest, and they already own market leaders in Birmingham and Savannah. Count them out right there.

 

Gray - frequently mentioned for Savannah and Green Bay - also has no assets in the Northeast. Also Birmingham and Mobile would be beyond their size range and would become their two largest markets (I believe), with no assets in top-50 markets.

 

Meredith - frequently mentioned for Providence and Birmingham - has no ABC stations and only one NBC station, mostly CBS and Fox. Also they aren't exactly that interested in markets the size of Savannah and Green Bay, sticking to upper-middle markets (i.e. 11 to 50).

 

Nexstar - a dark horse candidate - would have to let go of WFRV (and its satellite WJMN) to make the deal. Also Birmingham might be too big for them as well.

 

Sinclair - not really mentioned here - simply cannot. Way too many complications in Birmingham and Mobile.

 

Maybe some other surprise is in store?

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For some reason, WFNA could be a bargaining chip in Mobile. Since Media General is heading toward one of their goals of having secondary stations in their own market, keeping WKRG and acquiring WFNA can unlock many opportunities for WFNA that they could not realize paired with WALA.

 

A big one is having a second channel to expand news to. WKRG has been landlocked in this for years due to CBS programming and being a solitary station. Their last attempt at competing with WALA in the mornings was done away with in 2008 when CBS demanded their affiliates to air the entire "Early Show".....and having WWL down the road doing their thing probably made this demand even fiercer.

 

Acquiring WFNA gives them a chance to expand into morning news again and compete directly with WALA (if it is spun off to another owner).

 

The same goes for Green Bay with WCWF. If MG does in fact decide to keep WBAY, they could keep WCWF so that WBAY could do the same with WCWF as WKRG could do with WFNA.

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Gray - frequently mentioned for Savannah and Green Bay - also has no assets in the Northeast. Also Birmingham and Mobile would be beyond their size range and would become their two largest markets (I believe), with no assets in top-50 markets.

 

 

Mobile-Pensacola is about the same size of Knoxville (high 50s-low 60s). Birmingham is low 40s. I don't think Birmingham would be too much of a stretch for a company like Gray, especially given the state of WVTM. WVTM and the divested station in Mobile would enhance Gray's coverage in Alabama along with WTVY in Dothan, and would compliment WJHG in Panama City and WCTV in Tallahassee well.

 

Savannah could benefit from Gray being close to Augusta and WRDW. Same goes with Green Bay being in-state with Wausau-Rhinelander, Eau Claire and Madison.

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Maybe things will change again under another new owner for WVTM. That is a tough one that is likely dependant on who buys the others, especially in Providence. Meredith and Hearst are the most likely IMO (Meredith if WPRI/WNAC is on the market and Hearst if WJAR is on the market). Raycom and Sinclair are out due to conflicts and the market is likely too big for Gray and Nexstar. Not NBC itself hopefully (not bloody likely) as they decimated the station, dropping it to a distant third behind WBRC and WBMA+, and Media General ignored it and let it languish in fourth.

 

Would Meredith or Hearst be willing to push it forward and try to rebuild the station?

 

New Vision bought WIAT, which was in turn sold to LIN. Both companies pushed it upward greatly to make it competitive.

 

Hold up! NBC helped WVTM for many years and they only slipped when the network began to slip. At one point in the late 1990s and early 2000s, WVTM was #1 in a number of timeslots under NBC's ownership. Personally, NBC's ownership of WVTM was the apex of that station's existence. It was nice to see a station give Birmingham the shine it deserved in depth news coverage. My only gripe was NBC's lack of willpower to bring back the Sunday public affairs program and an actual news helicopter for the news operation.

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Hold up! NBC helped WVTM for many years and they only slipped when the network began to slip. At one point in the late 1990s and early 2000s, WVTM was #1 in a number of timeslots under NBC's ownership.

 

And by coincidence, soon after Media General sold WIAT to New Vision, Alabama football was vastly improved under then-new coach Nick Saban, and began to grow year by year to the point of national championships in 2009, 2011 and 2012. Also, CBS began to really take off around 06-07 nationally which really helped their cause. WIAT was able to expand their newscasts to those comparable to the other local stations by adding a morning show under New Vision's watch. Despite WVTM being the first Birmimgham (and Alabama) station to launch HD news in 2007, WVTM's decline was hastened under the massive layoffs imposed by Media General in 2008-2009 which literally decimated the station and turned over a lot of the remaining staff.

 

The same can be said for WCMH in Columbus, OH. They beat long-dominant WBNS in several time slots as well during the same time and under NBC's ownership. Under Media General's watch, it has suffered for the same reasons and now ranks #3 in the market overall.

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My hopes for WVTM is either Gannett acquires it, which I have been rooting for since the NBCUniversal divestiture in the mid 00s, NBCUniversal reacquires it (which isn't likely but I wish it would happen), or Meredith acquires it. It's time this station gets some long overdue shine once again because Media General doesn't care about WVTM. Maybe they will bring back the magic NBC gave the station and get rid of the "Alabama's 13" moniker which should have been never brought back. I would be worried if I am a current employee of WIAT because they will be back with a vengeance...

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I actually think Nexstar would be good for WVTM. Sure it's a big market compared to the rest of their portfolio, but they do have stations in Salt Lake and Memphis (which isn't that much smaller than Birmingham). Plus, don't they like buying bottom dwellers?

 

 

What are the chances of NBCUniversal re-buying WVTM, WJAR, and/or WCMH?

 

No. No. No. Not happening. At all. NBC hasn't bought an NBC affiliate in forever and I don't see that changing unless something big comes up.

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I actually think Nexstar would be good for WVTM. Sure it's a big market compared to the rest of their portfolio, but they do have stations in Salt Lake and Memphis (which isn't that much smaller than Birmingham). Plus, don't they like buying bottom dwellers?

 

Nexstar would also have a good shot at pairing WVTM with WABM in a legal duopoly.

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For some reason, it seems the legacy stations and ex-Spartan stations are the ones that Media General cares for the most, while the ex-Park stations and ex-NBC O&O's seem to be the ones neglected the most...at least from my observations.

 

WKRG is kind of an oddity since it is an ex-Spartan station. It was one of their last acquisitions in 1998 before they sold out to Media General, leaving it under their management for less than two years. Before that, it was owned by the Kenneth R. Giddens (hence the WKRG calls)

 

It's always been a little different than the others.... And now, "neglected" plays a role with them since they still use the 2008 graphics, have the same set that's over 12 years old, and have let their overall presentation suffer over the last 5 years or so. The only major overhauls they have made is the purging of half of their staff in the 2008-09 layoffs; tinkering with the morning show by dumping Jennifer Abney for Devon Walsh and firing and re-hiring Bill Riales; and Peter Albrecht returning to WKRG 6 years after being canned by WPMI.

 

If Media General keeps, them I would think an overhaul there is long overdue. Whoever gets WALA has little to change since it's all about two years old.

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