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Sinclair, Tribune Close to Merger Deal


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People keep bringing up Meredith as a potential buyer. With Meredith's recent purchase of Time Inc. I don't see Meredith as a buyer at all, I see them as a seller.

 

...with the help of the Koch Brothers.

 

I'm sure if Meredith really wanted these stations, then they would be willing to accept a larger chunk of Time or their other print holdings...

 

They could also slash and burn on the print side, the brands and digital assets of their magazines hold a lot of value.

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People keep bringing up Meredith as a potential buyer. With Meredith's recent purchase of Time Inc. I don't see Meredith as a buyer at all, I see them as a seller.

Guess it depends on what the Koch brothers want Meredith to do.

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Like I said before...

Those big 3 markets are anti-business, liberal, and anti-Sinclair.

The profit margins are much better in other Sinclair markets.

 

Take the cash baby...

Build up your resources in "R" markets and not the "D" ones.

They will never flip CA,NY or Il.

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Like I said before...

Those big 3 markets are anti-business, liberal, and anti-Sinclair.

The profit margins are much better in other Sinclair markets.

 

Take the cash baby...

Build up your resources in "red" markets and not the blue ones.

Most of the top 10 markets that Tribune and Sinclair own stations in are "blue" markets (except DFW and maybe Houston, and even they have the liberal Dallas and Harris counties).

 

Man, for some reason, I'd like to see what happens if Sinclair were to own a station in the SF Bay Area. Probably the reactions everyone here expects seeing as it's more liberal than Mesa is conservative (look it up, it's true).

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Well, that's a shocker. Very surprised KSWB is not in that conversation, too.

Also, surprised that some of the sister stations or potential sister stations aren't in there either - WPHL, KZJO, KWGN. Also, no St. Louis or Indianapolis station (where Sinclair would own multiple outlets), no New Orleans or Milwaukee (NFC markets), and no Kansas City (NFL market).

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Variety is saying FOX gets KDVR, KSTU, WJW, KCPQ, and--surprise!--KTXL in Sacramento and WSFL in Miami.

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/sinclair-tribune-fox-station-deal-seattle-1202707565/

 

Poor Ed Ansin.

 

Likely scenario if Fox plays hardball (and they will), Ed will do the WHDH treatment with WSVN. Heck, way back in '89 they touted themselves as 'going independent' after losing NBC, and over the years have barely acknowledged their Fox network affiliation. Will they take a hit in the ratings? For sure, but they'll just expand their prime time news coverage and (hopefully) acquire some better syndicated fare than what they have now. ALTERNATIVELY, the CW could be an option for WSVN. Then again, this is all speculative...

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Variety is saying FOX gets KDVR, KSTU, WJW, KCPQ, and--surprise!--KTXL in Sacramento and WSFL in Miami.

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/sinclair-tribune-fox-station-deal-seattle-1202707565/

 

Poor Ed Ansin.

Is Fox that dumb to try and move the FOX affiliation to WSFL, or do they have a trick up their sleeves (like trying to buy WSVN or WPLG)?

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Likely scenario if Fox plays hardball (and they will), Ed will do the WHDH treatment with WSVN. Heck, way back in '89 they touted themselves as 'going independent' after losing NBC, and over the years have barely acknowledged their Fox network affiliation. Will they take a hit in the ratings? For sure, but they'll just expand their prime time news coverage and (hopefully) acquire some better syndicated fare than what they have now. ALTERNATIVELY, the CW could be an option for WSVN. Then again, this is all speculative...

Is Fox that dumb to try and move the FOX affiliation to WSFL, or do they have a trick up their sleeves (like trying to buy WSVN or WPLG)?

Or FOX might switch affiliations with CBS-owned WBFS (MyNetTV) so both stations will be O&O's of MyNetTV and CW.

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Is Fox that dumb to try and move the FOX affiliation to WSFL.

 

It's hard to learn a lesson when you have big bucks--in the form of NFL ad revenue--staring at you in the face.

 

The endgame is almost certainly an affiliation switch, but here's the silver lining--no way in Hell Ansin goes down without a fight. He took Comcast/NBC to court over HDH, and he will absolutely fight to keep the affiliation on his station. He well could go after Sinclair for this, too--and wreck this entire acquisition.

Could Ed GD MFing Ansin be local TV's saving grace?

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Read this interesting line in a story about the sham sale of WPIX and WGN where Sinclar will operate the stations in a shared services arrangement, which in reality means Sinclair will control both stations. "FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, has defended the sharing arrangements as helping smaller stations survive." I would not characterize either WPIX or WGN as smaller stations, considering they are not the lowest rated stations in two of the three largest markets. If Sinclair is going to operate and control the stations, under a sidecar ownership arrangement, they should count vs. the cap. Plain and simple. The FCC needs to reject this approach and demand Sinclair sell the stations outright. If not, then we would know that there is a fishy smell surrounding Pai.

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It's hard to learn a lesson when you have big bucks--in the form of NFL ad revenue--staring at you in the face.

 

The endgame is almost certainly an affiliation switch, but here's the silver lining--no way in Hell Ansin goes down without a fight. He took Comcast/NBC to court over HDH, and he will absolutely fight to keep the affiliation on his station. He well could go after Sinclair for this, too--and wreck this entire acquisition.

Could Ed GD MFing Ansin be local TV's saving grace?

 

He doesn't have a strong case this time around. Remember, in the WHDH / NBC 10 case, Ansin claimed that WNEU did not cover the entire Boston market (which it doesn't, but he did not take WBTS into account). That is not the case here; WSFL easily covers nearly all of the Miami / Fort Lauderdale market.

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Re: WSFL... Fox has had a history of buying stations in order to trade them away. Remember that they traded KPDX to Meredith shortly upon purchase in exchange for WOFL (to be paired with WRBW).

 

But look at the caveat, "at least six stations." It sure sounds like Fox leaked this to the trades so as to force additional concessions from Sinclair.

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Re: WSFL... Fox has had a history of buying stations in order to trade them away. Remember that they traded KPDX to Meredith shortly upon purchase in exchange for WOFL (to be paired with WRBW).

 

But that was in an era where there were WAY more partners to dance with than now.

 

I don't even know who you trade SFL to for it to be worthwhile to both sides. MAYBE Graham? And even then, for what in return?

 

And if it's a trade leak of a wish list more than anything else, that's a Hell of a Red Herring to put out in Ansin's backyard.

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It looks like wsvn may soon have to make an affiliation change as no doubt Fox would like to move the Fox affilation from WSVN to WSFL.

Wonder if Ed Ansin will pick up the CW Affiliation for WSVN

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He doesn't have a strong case this time around. Remember, in the WHDH / NBC 10 case, Ansin claimed that WNEU did not cover the entire Boston market (which it doesn't, but he did not take WBTS into account). That is not the case here; WSFL easily covers nearly all of the Miami / Fort Lauderdale market.

 

Remember, Fox at this point is playing with total "screw you" money. WSFL would give a Fox some motivation to buy Sunbeam out since whatever his price is, unless we're going into fantasy territory, Fox can meet. It would also take care of the one gaping hole they'd have left and here they wouldn't be behind the 8 ball as they were both times with WFXT.

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Guest Former Member 207
It looks like wsvn may soon have to make an affiliation change as no doubt Fox would like to move the Fox affilation from WSVN to WSFL.

Wonder if Ed Ansin will pick up the CW Affiliation for WSVN

 

If anything, the CW affiliation would likely move to WBFS before it'll move to WSVN; for WSVN, it'll likely be independence before they would ever take Fox's scraps (MyNetworkTV), especially when their history shows that they've more or less treated their Fox affiliation as an afterthought.

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This has been speculated on for months, but don’t be surprised if Sinclair gets WOFL/WOGX in return for selling the previously mentioned stations. Sinclair wants to get into battleground states.

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If FOX buys back KDVR FOX31, and becomes a FOX network O&O again, what's gonna happen to KWGN CW2?

 

It doesn say anything about KWGN in the

 

Will CW2 and FOX31 go their separate ways?

 

Or, will KDVR/KWGN get the WFLD/WPWR treatment? Meaning that CW2/FOX31 in Denver will be side-by-side with FOX32/CW50 in Chicago (both duopolies being part of the FOX television stations family)?

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