Sinclair, Tribune Close to Merger Deal

[IndyNewsOpens 83]

"I, for one, welcome our new Sinclair overlords."

 

[kruejac 9]

So which markets would Sinclair have to sell in to get below the cap?

[GoldenShine9 1509]

So which markets would Sinclair have to sell in to get below the cap?

 

From my interpretation:

 

* Sinclair would LIKE to keep everything, but knows they can't under current rules.

 

* They are going to lobby for duopoly and cap rules to be raised during the purchase.

 

* If they do not succeed, they are prepared to divest stations to get under both rules.

[Rusty Muck 4158]

[MEDIA=twitter]861573178526662656[/MEDIA]

 

Sinclair admits that divestitures are quite possible, and says they may be out of the company entirely and not to shells.

It only depends on how far Commissioner Pai wants to go with relaxing the rules... as in, how much money can Sinclair stuff in his face.

[Georgie56 3059]

Prediction: WJLA will move the 7-10am portion of Good Morning Washington and their 10pm news to WDCW from NC8.

[detroiter313 178]

I would not be surprised after the deal is done, viewers are going to complain about the (soon-to-be) ex-Tribune stations about the "liberal bias" in its newscasts forcing Sinclair to make them report on "conservative stories" (I have no idea what I'm talking about, I just had to get my small 2 cents in)

[NowBergen 485]

I would not be surprised after the deal is done, viewers are going to complain about the (soon-to-be) ex-Tribune stations about the "liberal bias" in its newscasts forcing Sinclair to make them report on "conservative stories" (I have no idea what I'm talking about, I just had to get my small 2 cents in)

 

Actually you will see more of Sinclair's conservative bent in the type of stories they cover, the angle, and the commentaries. Remember, they have hired Boris Epshteyn as a national commentator who was very much in the Trump camp of exaggeration and alternative facts. It will even permeate the happy talk among anchors. A certain Sinclair station (actually once owned by NBC, then Media General) had the anchor quip after the debacle at the Oscars that it was a liberal conspiracy. Joke or not, it had no business being on the air and represented the direction Sinclair has taken in a very blatant manner. On top of this, Sinclair operates lean and will cut salaries and long term staff in markets who know the market. How they handle operating stations in the top 5 markets will be interesting. A sad day indeed.

[Georgie56 3059]

Actually you will see more of Sinclair's conservative bent in the type of stories they cover, the angle, and the commentaries. Remember, they have hired Boris Epshteyn as a national commentator who was very much in the Trump camp of exaggeration and alternative facts. It will even permeate the happy talk among anchors. A certain Sinclair station (actually once owned by NBC, then Media General) had the anchor quip after the debacle at the Oscars that it was a liberal conspiracy. Joke or not, it had no business being on the air and represented the direction Sinclair has taken in a very blatant manner. On top of this, Sinclair operates lean and will cut salaries and long term staff in markets who know the market. How they handle operating stations in the top 5 markets will be interesting. A sad day indeed.

 

Yeah, that's what I'm most upset about.

[Georgie56 3059]

So I wonder what's gonna happen to NewsFix and Eye Opener?

[Breaking News 802]

Does that mean Tribune Studios & WGN America goes to Sinclair as well? UGH those poor folks in NYC, LA, Chicago, Philly?

[moshewx 19]

Why is it ok to get a liberal bent but not a conservative bent? Just wondering why liberalism must be heard of every news outlet but not conservatism? Aren't you about "tolerance"? Aren't you about "fairness" and "freedom of speech"? Or does it only apply to liberals?

 

As far as Sinclair purchasing Tribune, what concerns me is the slashing of news operation budgets.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

Does that mean Tribune Studios & WGN America goes to Sinclair as well? UGH those poor folks in NYC, LA, Chicago, Philly?

 

That is correct.

[Glimmer 238]

So I wonder what's gonna happen to NewsFix and Eye Opener?

 

NewsFix? GONE

Eye Opener? GONE

The original series push at WGNA? GONE

Antenna TV and THIS? Don't be surprised if they're GONE too

[Georgie56 3059]

Why is it ok to get a liberal bent but not a conservative bent? Just wondering why liberalism must be heard of every news outlet but not conservatism? Aren't you about "tolerance"? Aren't you about "fairness" and "freedom of speech"? Or does it only apply to liberals?

 

I don't want right-wing or left-wing ideology in my local TV news, PERIOD.

[atlnews2 557]

Why is it ok to get a liberal bent but not a conservative bent? Just wondering why liberalism must be heard of every news outlet but not conservatism? Aren't you about "tolerance"? Aren't you about "fairness" and "freedom of speech"? Or does it only apply to liberals?

 

As far as Sinclair purchasing Tribune, what concerns me is the slashing of news operation budgets.

 

Who is saying "liberal bias" is a good thing? Any kind of bias is bad.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 695]

Speaking from a non-biased point of view, would anyone be surprised if this later came back to bankrupt them?

[Rusty Muck 4158]

NewsFix? GONE

Eye Opener? GONE

The original series push at WGNA? GONE

Antenna TV and THIS? Don't be surprised if they're GONE too

NewsFix and EyeOpener are perfect for TBD, as well as another revisit of NewsCentral hubbing for lower-tier stations (think a WPGH, WUHF or WPHL).

 

WGNA already reaps retransmission fee rewards. Expect the original series push to continue. All they need to do is force cable providers to up the rates for WGNA in a WNWO-style extortion tactic... only on a nationwide scale.

 

It's great for them. Bad for the 99%, but great for them.

[TheRob 919]

My only concern for the next year would be jobs/budget. In my tenure, we have added 10.5 hours of news and cut 50 employees. How much farther can we go before the quality suffers? What about WGN, WJW, WXIN and other stations that have added huge-- HUGE-- amounts of news in just the last few years? My biggest worry is plenty of good people will lose jobs because of years of service, salary, or both. If you work in the wrong department (graphics, master control, traffic), you're probably toast too. Although if FOX had made the deal, the same thing would have happened.

 

Sinclair is taking on $2.7 billion debt for this deal-- but considering the amount of revenue they expect to generate, this seems somewhat manageable.

 

Any ethical concerns about Sinclair content are secondary at this point.

[T.L. Hughes 746]

I wanted to hold out hope that someone else would get Tribune, but I kind of had little faith that Fox would be that white knight. But I question why Fox backed off. They know that Sinclair buying the Tribune stations could potentially ace them out of some reverse comp cash that they could get from the stations if Tribune stayed put, considering that Sinclair would have the advantage in negotiating power, so what do they do now?

 

Fox's relationship with what will be its largest affiliate owner might start souring the next time affiliation renewals roll around, barring that Sinclair sells off any of its existing Fox stations or any of the Tribune-owned Fox stations to independent buyers.

.

[MEDIA=twitter]861573178526662656[/MEDIA]

 

Sinclair admits that divestitures are quite possible, and says they may be out of the company entirely and not to shells.

 

I don't buy that at all. They may have sold off some stations during the Wheeler-era FCC, but even then they exposed loopholes in Wheeler's good-faith ownership restrictions by taking the non-license assets of the former KVMY, WCFT/WJSU and WCIV and putting them on existing stations. Under a more permissive Pai administration, I wouldn't bet that Sinclair would divest many conflict stations; remember, they pulled off a virtual quadropoly in Mobile, what's to stop them from trying to do it here in Oklahoma City or anywhere else where there are conflicts? I hope I'm wrong, like I was about WXIN cutting back its news programming when WTTV took over the CBS affiliation in Indy, but this is Sinclair...

 

I worry about the folks at KOKH and every other Fox station whose news departments are in jeopardy if Sinclair doesn't sell those to a company not called Deerfield or Cunningham. Fox got screwed again here; the network has only about 70 independent local news operations among its 200+ stations, losing any through this merger would sting for them.

 

I've talked a few times here about how Fox affiliates tend to get the short end of the stick when it comes to M&As where the Fox station ends up integrated with the Big Three outlet, mainly because of the FCC's time-brokerage limits, which at the 15% cap in place, don't allow for these stations to offer news-intensive schedules. If Ajit Pai was going to loosen regulation of LMAs, he should have thought of that, considering that rule flies in the face of his claim that LMAs foster more news production.

[scrabbleship 427]

Remember, they pulled off a virtual quadropoly in Mobile, what's to stop them from trying to do it here in Oklahoma City or anywhere else where there are conflicts?

 

They were able to spin the Mobile deal because of how their existing stations (WEAR/WFGX) don't really serve the Alabama part of the market while the stations they were inheriting (WPMI/WJTC) don't really cover the Florida part of the market. Genachowski let that one slide because he knew he was a lame duck and that on paper the sale didn't do much as it didn't technically reduce a voice in the FCC's eyes as Sinclair kept the news departments separate.

 

What happens in Mobile or Little Rock won't necessarily fly in, say, Seattle.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 695]

Remember, y'all. Meredith Media General didn't happen. Someone MAY still come in and save them. I'm still holding out a small glimmer of hope. Agree to disagree with me if you want to.

[scrabbleship 427]

Remember, y'all. Meredith Media General didn't happen. Someone MAY still come in and save them. I'm still holding out a small glimmer of hope. Agree to disagree with me if you want to.

 

Meredith Media General would've been infinitely better than Nexstar though.

 

The thing I think about is how Sinclair hasn't even digested some of the stations they've had for years. KHQA, KMTR, KTVO, and WGXA are still in 4:3 SD for instance.

[T.L. Hughes 746]

Remember, y'all. Meredith Media General didn't happen. Someone MAY still come in and save them. I'm still holding out a small glimmer of hope. Agree to disagree with me if you want to.

The only hope of some of the stations being swooped out of Sinclair's hands, is if their word that they might sell off some conflict properties, results in groups like Nexstar, Cox, Meredith, Hearst and the like decide to cut deals with Sinclair to buy some of the stations piecemeal. I'm not sure if anyone will pull from Nexstar's playbook and buy all of the Tribune properties wholesale.

 

BTW, I'm not sure if anyone has linked this yet, but this New York Times article from last week shows the potential conflict that could arise between Fox and Sinclair now that this deal happened. It also interestingly notes that while the Smith brothers usually donate to Republican causes, they also donate to Democratic campaigns, too (mainly state and local races in Maryland), which makes the fact that the news content they syndicate to its stations leans right ideologically a little odd.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 695]

Meredith Media General would've been infinitely better than Nexstar though.

 

The thing I think about is how Sinclair hasn't even digested some of the stations they've had for years. KHQA, KMTR, KTVO, and WGXA are still in 4:3 SD for instance.

 

Not to mention the all-too mentioned fact that they have major network affiliates that still either don't broadcast news or broadcast poor excuses for news (The Allman Report, really?). At least, Nexstar invested money in newscasts for some of the stations they acquired, and even made attempts to serve underserved portions of the markets they operate in. In my market of Shreveport-Texarkana, Nexstar added a 5:30 newscast on KSHV, which is dedicated exclusively to Texarkana and the Four State region. Before then, the only acknowledgement Texarkana ever got was cut ins on the Shreveport newscasts. Nexstar may have downgraded some of their stations and I'm not exactly their biggest fan but they were an upgrade for us. And they're still somewhat better than Sinclair.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

The only hope of some of the stations being swooped out of Sinclair's hands, is if their word that they might sell off some conflict properties, results in groups like Nexstar, Cox, Meredith, Hearst and the like swoop in in to buy some of the stations piecemeal. I'm not sure if anyone will pull from Nexstar's playbook and buy the entire Tribune properties.

 

BTW, I'm not sure if anyone has linked this yet, but this New York Times article shows the potential conflict that could arise between Fox and Sinclair now that this deal happened. It also interestingly notes that while the Smith brothers usually donate to Republican causes, they also donate to Democratic campaigns, too (mainly state and local races).

 

Nexstar would have had the same issues if they were successful at acquiring Tribune (they underbid) - over the cap and laden with conflicts.

 

I know Pai is all in for everything, but the second commissioner only reluctantly voted to reinstate the UHF discount. Seeing this deal blow right past that even may give them pause.

 

The minor conflicts (that don't involve multiple news operations) are pretty easy for Sinclair to retain. It is the big ones - like Seattle, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City - along with cap overages that need to be dealt with. Any cap overage divestitures would need to take place in non-conflict markets as they have to be out of them completely (they can be existing Sinclair stations too).