mre29 1340 Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 I wonder if Sinclair would be willing to swap the affiliations (or how feasible that is) of KPLR and KDNL to entice another buyer like Hearst or Scripps for KPLR. That's what I would do. The way I figure it, KDNL's name and the "ABC 30" branding are effectively mud in St. Louis, and any prospective buyer of the ABC affiliate is going to want to avoid being anywhere near it. (This is why I said elsewhere that, if KDNL is sold off as-is, it would need new call letters.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 That's what I would do. The way I figure it, KDNL's name and the "ABC 30" branding are effectively mud in St. Louis, and any prospective buyer of the ABC affiliate is going to want to avoid being anywhere near it. (This is why I said elsewhere that, if KDNL is sold off as-is, it would need new call letters.) Honestly, Sinclair should just give KDNL (or KPLR) to Standard Media and call it a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 could Weigel by interested in either? they've built news departments from scratch, the Koplar family has a Fox affiliate in Springfield (MO) with no news department, maybe they'd be interested also, Hearst might be interested in one of them as a CW station since they have in indie in Tampa with no news department that they could just run from their Midwestern stations, if they sell a station with the ABC affiliation, could ABC force them a build a news department when their affiliation is up for renewal with a different owner with possibly less leverage than Sinclar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Is there a Spanish-language news operation in St. Louis, and if not, is there a demand for such? That could be an answer by selling it to someone wanting to set one up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColtFromGulfcoast 695 Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Is there a Spanish-language news operation in St. Louis, and if not, is there a demand for such? That could be an answer by selling it to someone wanting to set one up. No and there never has been a need or demand for one. IIRC, there was a time when Univision owned half of WRBU before Roberts went under and there was never any attempt on their part to buy it outright during the years where It carried HSN, UPN and My Network, or when Roberts was liquidating their assets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Is there a Spanish-language news operation in St. Louis, and if not, is there a demand for such? That could be an answer by selling it to someone wanting to set one up. the Spanish speaking population in STL is smaller compared to other places Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess 1110 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 [MEDIA=twitter]999825043528953857[/MEDIA] I’m waiting for a movie to start right now but I wanted to at least pass this along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broadcastfan9751 136 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 [MEDIA=twitter]999825043528953857[/MEDIA] I’m waiting for a movie to start right now but I wanted to at least pass this along. Here's the story: https://thedesk.matthewkeys.net/2018/05/sinclair-withholding-tribune-merger-documents/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasTVNews 1366 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 [MEDIA=twitter]999825043528953857[/MEDIA] I’m waiting for a movie to start right now but I wanted to at least pass this along. Here's the story: https://thedesk.matthewkeys.net/2018/05/sinclair-withholding-tribune-merger-documents/ Get you popcorn ready, because this is going to be a hell of a show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megatron81 179 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Wow didn't think The CW was Top 4 in ST. Louis thought it was number 5. But yeah I think Sinclair should sell The CW to Standard Media and call it a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3442 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Wow didn't think The CW was Top 4 in ST. Louis thought it was number 5. But yeah I think Sinclair should sell The CW to Standard Media and call it a day. Two reasons KPLR has outranked KDNL... Being a heritage "VHF" station that has had a stand-alone news operation for most of their existence (until their partnership with Local TV LLC and eventual merger with them)...sort of like a mini WGN. KDNL has been a trainwreck as an ABC station since they got the affiliation from KTVI. Ever since they killed the news department in the early 2000s, it's been a disaster under Sinclair ownership. They've never made any real effort to make something out of this station. By merging with KTVI, it's a solid news department that can satisfy ABC and make them seem like a normal affiliate by doing "bare minimum" shows at key times. As long as it's not something stupid like FOX 2 news on ABC 30! (like they do in Dayton with WKEF and WRGT) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Wow didn't think The CW was Top 4 in ST. Louis thought it was number 5. But yeah I think Sinclair should sell The CW to Standard Media and call it a day. The Allman Report didn't help them much with ratings I guess, might be the only place where a CW affiliate ranks outranks the ABC affiliate, and that's without any local sports that they used to have before they moved to cable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 KDNL has been a trainwreck as an ABC station since they got the affiliation from KTVI. Ever since they killed the news department in the early 2000s, it's been a disaster under Sinclair ownership. They've never made any real effort to make something out of this station. during the affiliation switches of the mid-90s, the Fox viewing position became the ABC viewing position in STL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Two reasons KPLR has outranked KDNL... Being a heritage "VHF" station that has had a stand-alone news operation for most of their existence (until their partnership with Local TV LLC and eventual merger with them)...sort of like a mini WGN. it also had Cardinals and Blues games before most of those moved to cable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 KDNL has been a trainwreck as an ABC station since they got the affiliation from KTVI. ABC might have had chance to make a deal with or KSDK or KMOV in the mid 90s, but they never did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 By merging with KTVI, it's a solid news department that can satisfy ABC and make them seem like a normal affiliate by doing "bare minimum" shows at key times. As long as it's not something stupid like FOX 2 news on ABC 30! (like they do in Dayton with WKEF and WRGT) Won’t matter to Mickey. As long as KDNL fulfills its affiliation contract, they can call it whatever the f*** they want to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2876 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 ABC might have had chance to make a deal with or KSDK or KMOV in the mid 90s, but they never did KMOV was owned by Paramount and Paramount was only now starting to unwind anything that didn't have UPN on it. Gannett didn't want to flip in St. Louis. The Koplars turned ABC down citing their sports load at the time (which would have been a real burden to lose). There wasn't much else for ABC to choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NowBergen 485 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Two reasons KPLR has outranked KDNL... Being a heritage "VHF" station that has had a stand-alone news operation for most of their existence (until their partnership with Local TV LLC and eventual merger with them)...sort of like a mini WGN. KDNL has been a trainwreck as an ABC station since they got the affiliation from KTVI. Ever since they killed the news department in the early 2000s, it's been a disaster under Sinclair ownership. They've never made any real effort to make something out of this station. By merging with KTVI, it's a solid news department that can satisfy ABC and make them seem like a normal affiliate by doing "bare minimum" shows at key times. As long as it's not something stupid like FOX 2 news on ABC 30! (like they do in Dayton with WKEF and WRGT) Despite cable coverage, they also were technologically behind - no HD feed until 2008 or so whereas all the other network stations were in HD for programming years before. KDNL is a lower 100 market station in the 21st biggest market basically. It has no heritage, no personalities folks in St. Louis could relate to. It was run as a bare bones operation from somewhere else with a sales office and transmitter guy local. Welcome to the world of Sinclair for those that are soon to find out the hard way. I moved from elsewhere to STL back then, and could not believe how amateurish the station was, that there was no news, no HD. I would not be surprised if it is one of ABC's lowest rated stations. Not sure why they put up with Sinclair ownership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgie56 3059 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Despite cable coverage, they also were technologically behind - no HD feed until 2008 or so whereas all the other network stations were in HD for programming years before. KDNL is a lower 100 market station in the 21st biggest market basically. It has no heritage, no personalities folks in St. Louis could relate to. It was run as a bare bones operation from somewhere else with a sales office and transmitter guy local. Welcome to the world of Sinclair for those that are soon to find out the hard way. I moved from elsewhere to STL back then, and could not believe how amateurish the station was, that there was no news, no HD. I would not be surprised if it is one of ABC's lowest rated stations. Not sure why they put up with Sinclair ownership. Somebody else said it in a thread way back when, but Sinclair could yank ABC from WJLA, KOMO, and other markets if the network ever threatened to pull the affiliation from KDNL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 I would not be surprised if it is one of ABC's lowest rated stations. Not sure why they put up with Sinclair ownership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Somebody else said it in a thread way back when, but Sinclair could yank ABC from WJLA, KOMO, and other markets if the network ever threatened to pull the affiliation from KDNL. I hope they have that spelled out in the contract...otherwise.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4162 Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Somebody else said it in a thread way back when, but Sinclair could yank ABC from WJLA, KOMO, and other markets if the network ever threatened to pull the affiliation from KDNL. It is a group-wide affiliation contact. Wasn't it upped a few months ago to include the Tribune ABC affils? (WQAD, WGNO, WNEP) I hope they have that spelled out in the contract...otherwise.... Only way to know is to look at the contract with a fine-tooth comb. If Sinclair didn't include that wording - that none of their stations can individually have their affiliations terminated at any point without affecting or terminating the overall group-wide affiliation contact - it's their own fault if ABC decides to voluntarily leave KDNL (or any other Sinclair-owned affil). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2876 Posted May 28, 2018 Share Posted May 28, 2018 The 2018 KDNL affiliation contract is available in the FCC file. (It nominally has a term of 2020-22, tacked on to the existing ABC affiliation agreement, but supersedes anything from the 2014 agreement.) The language of interest is probably in Section V.H.1. ABC can also withhold its consent to transfer/assign the affiliation agreement... (a) if Station is in material breach of this Affiliation Agreement (b) if the assignee or transferee controls or is controlled by or is under common control with an entity that distributes 10 or more hours of Primetime television Programming per week to at least 25 affiliated television licensees in 10 or more states © if the assignee or transferee is not reasonably qualified to own and operate the Station(s) (d) on the basis of reasonable business concerns that arise from the assignee's ability to pay the License Fees or from prior commercial dealings of ABC with the assignee or transferee but ABC will not unreasonably withhold its consent in the latter two cases. ——— The local news language is included; the requirement is substantially the same as in 2014 (30 minutes each leading into GMA, WNT and JKL Monday-Friday). There is also, as in 2014, a requirement to participate in NewsOne per the most recent NewsOne agreement. The ABC logo also can be smaller. The 2014 agreement said the ABC had to be 75% of the logo; the 2018 one says 55%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 Politico did a recent piece about Sinclair station spin-offs to Armstrong Williams & the WGN sale to Fader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 From B&C yesterday, three state Attorneys General (IL, IA & RI) have filed petitions to the FCC to deny the merger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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