tyrannical bastard 3442 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/79520/the-most-important-least-known-man-in-tv Media General as we know it post-newspapers, is largely due to Soohyung Kim, who invested heavily in bankrupt Young Broadcasting, and orchestrated their merger....and later with LIN. His Standard General fund was responsible for bailing out what's left of Radio Shack and also owns a large portion of American Apparel, which just filed for bankruptcy. I think Media General is paying dearly for LIN's insistence that Vince Sadusky remained in charge. And if Meredith gets its way as well, who knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 What's wrong with Sadusky over Mahoney? I know that Mahoney was CEO for less than two years and that sort of upheaval is inherently chaotic, but still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlnews2 557 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/79520/the-most-important-least-known-man-in-tv Media General as we know it post-newspapers, is largely due to Soohyung Kim, who invested heavily in bankrupt Young Broadcasting, and orchestrated their merger....and later with LIN. His Standard General fund was responsible for bailing out what's left of Radio Shack and also owns a large portion of American Apparel, which just filed for bankruptcy. I think Media General is paying dearly for LIN's insistence that Vince Sadusky remained in charge. And if Meredith gets its way as well, who knows? An interesting read. It mentions that Kim doesn't believe in cost cutting, but in investing in the stations (he is the reason that all of the Young stations got new studios and went HD in the final years of the company). So maybe if the Nexstar deal goes through he will put people in charge that won't penny pinch like the current Nexstar executives (as Kim will own a large chunk of shares). Based on what I read it seems like Kim likes to be the one in charge so he probably won't do anything that doesn't give him some sort of control. As a side not what is wrong with Sadusky as a CEO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3442 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I think it's more of the LIN influence over Media General. From some of the wacky changes (especially WIAT and WKBN), blowing the CBS deal at WISH, LIN's past lengthy retransmission standoffs and the questionable financial results this past year, this company has yet to realize what they have done, and seemingly doesn't have a clue on how to move forward. I think the Meredith deal is a desperate attempt to make something of themselves, or to stave off Nexstar, who would make the company more profitable by destroying it station by station. Now with the crossroads of merging with Meredith or selling out to Nexstar, it's anyone's guess on how this merger will pan out, good or bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 They are truly between a rock and a hard place here. Buy Meredith, install your third CEO in as many years, and take on more debt as the corporate culture shifts once more, or sell to Nexstar and effectively cease to exist as Nexstar becomes a Clear Channel/Cumulus of TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2876 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Another investor's against the deal: Oppenheimer. The owner of 7% of Media General wrote a letter to the company over the weekend stating it would not support the transaction: Oppenheimer, not usually a shareholder activist, in the letter criticized the Media General board for not revealing that Nexstar had made an earlier approach, in August, to buy the company — before Media General instead agreed to buy Meredith, sources said. The Media General board’s refusal to consider the earlier Nexstar proposal is “inexplicable,” Oppenheimer said in the letter, sources said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 They are truly between a rock and a hard place here. Buy Meredith, install your third CEO in as many years, and take on more debt as the corporate culture shifts once more, or sell to Nexstar and effectively cease to exist as Nexstar becomes a Clear Channel/Cumulus of TV. Could BOTH deals fall apart as a result? Maybe Meredith wants nothing of this anymore and might decide to merge with someone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.L. Hughes 746 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Could BOTH deals fall apart as a result? Maybe Meredith wants nothing of this anymore and might decide to merge with someone else? The problem is, what if Meredith was interested and decides to sue Nexstar and Media General for causing the deal to fall apart? As I mentioned before, there is precedent for a breach of contract situation as a result of an aborted sale attempt (although the Belo-CBS dispute centered on just one station, whereas this involves all properties of three groups), so Media General should, in addition to studying the offer as to whether it truly is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders, also weigh whether its worth accepting Nexstar's offer from a legal standpoint, given that they already agreed to buy Meredith and had at least a verbal agreement (that was made public) to put Steve Lacy in as MG's president/CEO should the merger go through. Such agreements involving the latter are often binding, and could be used as grounds to file a suit, that could result in MG and/or Nexstar being on the hook for millions. Nexstar's timing in upping its offer is appropriate though, considering that Meredith and Media General have to decide which stations to sell off in conflict markets, and it hasn't reached the point yet where any station sales involving one of the groups would be decided upon and a buyer has been chosen. You do wonder, though, if the MG-Meredith deal would have passed muster with the shareholders that have voiced objection to it if the magazines weren't part of the deal. BTW, how much debt would either MG or Nexstar assume should either deal take place, assuming unless MG has a plan (or plans to develop one) to pay down any after the Meredith merger closes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3442 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Hurricane Katrina was the reason the WUPL sale to Belo took so long, and why it was embroiled in controversy. If I remember correctly, it was CBS that wanted WWL originally? Katrina was a huge blow to the area and drastically shrunk the market from a low 40s to below 50. Even Emmis took another 2 years to finally find a buyer for WVUE which was a total reboot due to the extensive damage and flooding of their station. But a contract is a contract and it took a lot of legal wrangling to turn the deal around for Belo to combine WUPL with WWL and take them off of CBSs hands. Sadusky and company may have epicly blundered by promising an inferior offer to Meredith instead of vetting the Nexstar offer with the shareholders beforehand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 As low in esteem as I hold Time Warner's management, Jeff Bewkes at least disclosed the Fox offer to his company's shareholders without striking some half-baked deal to combine with somebody else (though considering how concentrated the TV networks-movie studio sector is, who would there have been to swallow? Discovery?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surplus Engineer 38 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Could BOTH deals fall apart as a result? Maybe Meredith wants nothing of this anymore and might decide to merge with someone else? Meredith shareholders are giddy. If somebody offers you double the value for your house or car, you take the money and yell "No backsies!" So that's what they're doing. If the deal falls through, they'll try to extract some value out of opportunity cost, or at least try to recoup some of the costs incurred paying very expensive lawyers and consultants for their services in the course of setting up the aborted merger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4160 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 They are truly between a rock and a hard place here. Buy Meredith, install your third CEO in as many years, and take on more debt as the corporate culture shifts once more, or sell to Nexstar and effectively cease to exist as Nexstar becomes a Clear Channel/Cumulus of TV. S!nclair is the Clear Channel of TV. MediaGeneral is the 2009-era Citadel Broadcasting of TV (the Forrestman Little-controlled group that foolishly bought ABC Radio at peak market prices, then went belly up). Nexstar is the Cumulus of TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4160 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Well, the Meredith-MediaGeneral merger is now effectively dead and buried. What is there to stop Nexstar from buying MG? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Well, the Meredith-MediaGeneral merger is now effectively dead and buried. What is there to stop Nexstar from buying MG? Nothing now...unless Media General rejects the move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlnews2 557 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Media General denies that the Meredith deal is dead http://americasmarkets.usatoday.com/2015/10/07/report-media-general-ready-to-walk-away-from-meredith-deal/ http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2015/10/07/report-meredith-media-general-deal-jeopardy/73510926/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Still if I were working at a Media General station in flux, I'd be thinking about updating the resume and looking for another position just in case... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
promoguy98 252 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Still if I were working at a Media General station in flux, I'd be thinking about updating the resume and looking for another position just in case... You hit the nail on the head.. There's too many unknowns and worry that isn't needed. Updating the ol' resume isn't a bad idea for the ones smart enough to be proactive and move on. These sweeping and surprising chess moves will probably continue for the foreseeable future, so the relatively safest move might be leaving the industry for some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJClementeFan69 477 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I think the best hope for MG employees at this point is to hope the Nexstar deal is rejected...either by MG itself or the FCC. MMG looks dead in the water despite whatever MG may say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kruejac 9 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Does anyone know when the next shareholders meeting for Media General is? Maybe we will hear some news then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
promoguy98 252 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Media General reaches an agreement with Meredith under which MG will exchange "some" non-public information with Nexstar. I posted this link under the (MG Merging with Meredith) forum topic as well, being that the two topics are mixed up a bit. http://mediageneral.com/press/2015/oct14_2015.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who?cares 253 Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Media General reaches an agreement with Meredith under which MG will exchange "some" non-public information with Nexstar. I posted this link under the (MG Merging with Meredith) forum topic as well, being that the two topics are mixed up a bit. http://mediageneral.com/press/2015/oct14_2015.html Previous articles have said that Media General has walked away from Sook three times before this. It seems that MG is more interested in this deal than they are letting on. The MG station in this town's staffers are scared out of their minds that this is going through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Your avatar implies you live in Terre Haute...where MG and Nexstar overlap! Do you know if the people at WTWO/WAWV are worried? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 I'm afraid of what Nexstar will do to the production values at WKBN/WYTV if they buys MG. Scratch that, I'm afraid of what Nexstar will do in bigger markets like Columbus, Tampa, or Nashville. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who?cares 253 Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Your avatar implies you live in Terre Haute...where MG and Nexstar overlap! Do you know if the people at WTWO/WAWV are worried? We are not worried. Our colleagues up the street certainly are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3442 Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Who has the edge in Terre Haute? If Nexstar prevails, keeping WTWO/WAWV keeps their arrangement status quo..for now. But if it's forced to be unraveled, it could require another buyer unless they merge either station on to the other, creating an identical situation that WTHI employs with FOX on their -2. The bright side could be WTHI being sold off instead of Nexstar trading channels...and perhaps the opposite if WTWO and/or WAWV is released from the grip of the Deathstar.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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