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Sinclair and Tribune Part 2: The Redux


Weeters

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I think you were the one who called for Sinclair having a triopoly in OKC awhile back, except you had KOKH being part of it and not KFOR

 

But at least you did get the KOCB/KAUT part right

Yeah, I didn't think that Sinclair would add KFOR because of its history of tending to keep existing stations and adding new outlets, plus the fact that the DOJ's held firm on limiting the number of stations that Sinclair could attempt to maintain post-merger in a single market. You could be right that KAUT's programming could be shifted and 43.1 could end up affiliated with a subchannel network (that did happen in the Fox affiliations in Chattanooga and Tallahassee, when Sinclair entered into SSAs with New Age Media), but Sinclair's history with virtual triopolies hints at KAUT joining WWMB and WEYI as another exception within Howard Stirk Holdings' portfolio concerning content on the primary channel.

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Yeah, I didn't think that Sinclair would add KFOR because of its history of tending to keep existing stations and adding new outlets, plus the fact that the DOJ's held firm on limiting the number of stations that Sinclair could attempt to maintain post-merger in a single market. You could be right that KAUT's programming could be shifted and 43.1 could end up affiliated with a subchannel network (that did happen in the Fox affiliations in Chattanooga and Tallahassee, when Sinclair entered into SSAs with New Age Media), but Sinclair's history with virtual triopolies hints at KAUT joining WWMB and WEYI as another exception within Howard Stirk Holdings' portfolio concerning content on the primary channel.

I was also banking on various groups purchasing the conflicts (with Meredith purchasing one of the OKC duopolies and Sinclair keeping the other) turns out neither I or anyone else in here expecting Standard General to even purchase the conflicts

 

The bigger question becomes who in here predicted that Standard General would even get into the broadcast ownership business?

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The bigger question becomes who in here predicted that Standard General would even get into the broadcast ownership business?

 

Funny thing: Standard General navigated Young's stations being flipped to MG.

 

Makes me wonder if that's the endgame for some of these stations. They can't dump them all to Nexstar/Mission, but I think all the non-PA stations could--and maybe Meredith gets the rest?

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Funny thing: Standard General navigated Young's stations being flipped to MG.

 

Makes me wonder if that's the endgame for some of these stations. They can't dump them all to Nexstar/Mission, but I think all the non-PA stations could--and maybe Meredith gets the rest?

 

The endgame is Standard Broadcasting is a secret shell of Standard Oil...

 

Circle Complete.

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Funny thing: Standard General navigated Young's stations being flipped to MG.

 

Makes me wonder if that's the endgame for some of these stations. They can't dump them all to Nexstar/Mission, but I think all the non-PA stations could--and maybe Meredith gets the rest?

I think if Standard is serious about staying in the broadcasting industry (and I mean for the longhaul) then they shouldn't sell the 9 stations to Meredith, etc. because why would you spend $441 million only to sell it to another group? I think Standard has the right CEO in Deb McDermott and I expect Standard General to be in this for the long haul

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I think if Standard is serious about staying in the broadcasting industry (and I mean for the longhaul) then they shouldn't sell the 9 stations to Meredith, etc. because why would you spend $441 million only to sell it to another group?

 

Because these are people with money, and they can and will do whatever in the name of trying to turn a profit on them.

 

This is a holding company. Think Newport, Local TV LLC, etc.

 

Despite McDermott's presence, these are not TV people running the show. These are NYC investment bankers, and they want an ROI fast.

 

They have to know the value of stations is declining, so I expect a pretty fast flip to someone else, TBH.

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I think if Standard is serious about staying in the broadcasting industry (and I mean for the longhaul) then they shouldn't sell the 9 stations to Meredith, etc. because why would you spend $441 million only to sell it to another group? I think Standard has the right CEO in Deb McDermott and I expect Standard General to be in this for the long haul

 

If Deb McDermott could keep Young from collapse for over a decade, she can do this.

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Because these are people with money, and they can in the name of trying to turn a profit on them.

 

This is a holding company. Think Newport, Local TV LLC, etc.

 

Despite McDermott's presence, these are not TV people running the show. These are NYC investment bankers, and they want an ROI fast.

 

They have to know the value of stations is declining, so I expect a pretty fast flip to someone else, TBH.

Just have to wait and see what happens if they decide to stick with it, more power to them if they want to cash out, again more power to them

 

Also keep this in mind, both Newport and Local TV were around for 6 and a half years (Newport) and 7 years (Local TV) respectively so I don't think Standard will cash out in a year or two but if you were to ask me in 4-5 years I'd say yes they would definately cash out

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Standard General had a hand in the reincarnated-post-1st bankruptcy of Radio Shack, only to file again two years later, shuttering the remaining stores.

 

Private Equity is the devil. Look what it's done to retail. If broadcasting wasn't so regulated, we would be seeing liquidations of station groups too.

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Standard General had a hand in the reincarnated-post-1st bankruptcy of Radio Shack, only to file again two years later, shuttering the remaining stores.

 

I bet those were the bastards responsible for shutting down the Radio Shack Battery Of The Month Club.

 

I only needed 2 more "D" cells to make my free RS flashlight operational.

 

rscared.thumb.jpg.172f73c80a104a221c6d3f009df4950f.jpg

1909282271_rsdcell.jpg.bbe64b1c70910d1b82b1c008fbc347cf.jpg

rsflashlight.jpg.60e9db963fcb2e9e3323ff01e48dac8c.jpg

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And as posted in the other thread B&C is reporting that the FCC Shot Clock will restart and be open for public comment and replies once the commission recieves it's final divestment plan from Sinclair and that DOJ no longer sees anymore antitrust issues with the deal which means the deal will be signed, sealed and delivered in a few weeks

https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/sinclair-deal

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I was going to wonder how they were going to run news ops with studios in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo... and I'm sure job layoffs would've been guaranteed

 

Same here was worried that a lot of staffers would have lost their job I'm sure both Fox17 & WWMT are glad that they don't have to share news ops.

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Because these are people with money, and they can and will do whatever in the name of trying to turn a profit on them.

 

This is a holding company. Think Newport, Local TV LLC, etc.

 

Despite McDermott's presence, these are not TV people running the show. These are NYC investment bankers, and they want an ROI fast.

 

They have to know the value of stations is declining, so I expect a pretty fast flip to someone else, TBH.

With Local TV, LLC., Randy Michaels and some of his colleagues from Jacor and Clear Channel were in place running the show... at the same time he was taking over the leadership at WGN. We'll never really know if he or Local TV wanted to grow further because the economy cratered not long after they bought the NYT station group and the Fox O&O spinoffs. Moreover, Randy was famously forced out of Tribune and found other private equity investors to found Merlin Media (the disastrous "FM News" experiments in Chicago and NYC) so Local TV had to be sold off as a result.

 

Standard General will assuredly be doing the dirty work of finding piecemeal buyers for these stations. As was seen with Newport, it took several years and with different buyers.

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I'm sure the endgame is going to be the same, once the UHF discount is upheld, the merger will happen and some other group will swallow up these stations to be on the same level of scale.

 

It may even be similar to the rise of MSNBC....the polar opposite of Fox news. Instead of balanced journalism, you have two extremes battling to their "sides".

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I bet those were the bastards responsible for shutting down the Radio Shack Battery Of The Month Club.

 

I only needed 2 more "D" cells to make my free RS flashlight operational.

 

[ATTACH=full]5977[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]5978[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]5979[/ATTACH]

 

Which reminds me of this classic commercial (enjoy!!)......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWx6pkW3R7U

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Standard General will assuredly be doing the dirty work of finding piecemeal buyers for these stations. As was seen with Newport, it took several years and with different buyers.

 

I wouldn't be surprise if Meredith quietly talks to Standard General at some point about buying KDSM.

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http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/113165/suddenly-time-is-of-essence-for-sinclairtrib

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/113162/sinclair-to-reach-58-of-tvhhs-or-is-it-66

 

Here are my 5 big takeaways from Harry Jessell's 2 part column on Sinclair-Tribune's sale of 23 TV Stations:

 

1. Sinclair is telling the FCC that its coverage after spinoffs from its merger with Tribune will be just 58.7%.this is with the UHF Discount, without it Sinclair post-Tribune would have a total reach of 66.3% of TV Homes, that's a full 2/3rds of this country that Sinclair would have control over local news.

 

2. The spinoff deals with Soo Kim and Meredith show that it has given up on trying to persuade the Justice Department that it can own two top-four stations in markets where it would have had such overlaps. Not only that but also the fact that they gave up on trying to own 2 of the top four stations in every market (with the exception of Indianapolis) proves that the Trump DOJ is standing firm to one owner owning 2 top four stations despite Ajit Pai relaxating the top four prohibition rule in November by not allowing Sinclair to do so.

 

3. The group is claiming 58% because it is not counting stations in three big markets — WGN Chicago, KDAF Dallas, KIAH Houston — that it is spinning off to closely affiliated companies. Without those markets and the discount in effect, Sinclair’s reach will be just 37.39%, safely below the 39% cap. That's the only reason why the DOJ is sastified with Sinclair's latest divestment plan if WGN/KDAF/KIAH counted towards the cap the DOJ would've ordered at least KDAF/KIAH to go to an unaffiliated 3rd party with Sinclair acquiring WGN outright but because of the fact that they didn't this latest divestment plan will pass regulatory muster.

 

4. But in the case of Dallas and Houston, I’m told, Sinclair has put additional distance between itself and Cunningham as it has in a couple of small markets to appease the regulators. The finances of the stations will be kept separate from Sinclair’s and Sinclair is pledging to stay completely out of their operations. It will, however, have an option to buy the stations should the FCC ever ease the rules to allow it. This technically shouldn't be allowed to happen but it will because it's Sinclair we're talking about here and they like to bend the rules which is a segway to my last takeaway.

 

5. As noted in the article that didn't get mentioned on takeaway #4 is the fact that Sinclair has distanced themselves from Cunningham and WGN, L.L.C with regards to WGN/KDAF/KIAH. Again these are all shell companies and in the real world would've counted towards the cap, but of course it's Sinclair and everything they do in terms of how they bend the rules does not surprise myself or anyone else in here anymore.

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I still don't understand why Sinclair continues with this deal if they don't have some authority over WGN and the engine behind it that can REALLY make them successful/dangerous.

 

I just don't get it.

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I still don't understand why Sinclair continues with this deal if they don't have some authority over WGN and the engine behind it that can REALLY make them successful/dangerous.

 

I just don't get it.

Sinclair wants to be in New York/Chicago/Los Angeles that's why

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Sinclair wants to be in New York/Chicago/Los Angeles that's why

Yes, for two reasons:

 

1) the Boris Epysteyn and "terrorist alert freakout" must-runs and mandated "dangerous threat to our democracy" promos, which they are totally oblivious to any criticism whatsoever

2) they own the rights to an advanced broadcast standard of HDTV and want to use their stations as "test markets"

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Yes, for two reasons:

 

1) the Boris Epysteyn and "terrorist alert freakout" must-runs and mandated "dangerous threat to our democracy" promos, which they are totally oblivious to any criticism whatsoever

2) they own the rights to an advanced broadcast standard of HDTV and want to use their stations as "test markets"

It's not quite neccessarily the main reason why Sinclair wants to be in the top 3 media markets BUT that is part of the reason why they want to be in the top 3 markets

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Yes, for two reasons:

 

1) the Boris Epysteyn and "terrorist alert freakout" must-runs and mandated "dangerous threat to our democracy" promos, which they are totally oblivious to any criticism whatsoever

2) they own the rights to an advanced broadcast standard of HDTV and want to use their stations as "test markets"

 

PIX 11 already does not have great ratings in most dayparts, this will cause even more decline. They can air their Epsteyn/Terrorism Desk/Hyland crap but the question will be - is anyone in NY watching?

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PIX 11 already does not have great ratings in most dayparts, this will cause even more decline. They can air their Epsteyn/Terrorism Desk/Hyland crap but the question will be - is anyone in NY watching?

Are there any counties in the NYC DMA that leans towards the Republicans? If so, then WPIX might have a shot, if it can somehow get them to a 0.4 rating.

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