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A simpler solution:

 

** WALB 10.2 (ABC) and WSWG 44.1 (CBS) swap affiliations and program inventories. (Accordingly, the simulcasts of WCTV's newscasts on what had been "WSWG" are now replaced with WALB's 10.1 newscasts.)

 

** WSWG and WTXL - also tagged for a divestiture - are then spun off to Nexstar, which runs WSWG as a semi-satellite, or an outright satellite, of WTXL instead of WCTV... and also complement WDHN in nearby Dothan fairly nicely.

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The paperwork will be definitely worth seeing in terms of how everything will play out.

 

I'd be curious to see what happens as well to the Montgomery HQ of Raycom, is it emptied out completely or will Gray keep some offices there? I believe WSFA is based inside their HQ as well.

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The paperwork will be definitely worth seeing in terms of how everything will play out.

 

I'd be curious to see what happens as well to the Montgomery HQ of Raycom, is it emptied out completely or will Gray keep some offices there? I believe WSFA is based inside their HQ as well.

 

As it turns out, Raycom has been moving some corporate operations to Atlanta for quite some time. Their national news desk just moved there. I would venture to say this Gray deal will have them completely vacate Montgomery for good.

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As it turns out, Raycom has been moving some corporate operations to Atlanta for quite some time. Their national news desk just moved there. I would venture to say this Gray deal will have them completely vacate Montgomery for good.

Geographically, Atlanta is also kinda/sorta between Raycom's Montgomery HQ and Gray's original HQ in Albany (which is fascinating that Gray has technically never left it's hometown; they still had offices in Albany after spinning of WALB the first time, then bought WSWG). They might retain some non-redundant stuff in Montgomery but, really, why pass up being in a top-10 market?

 

It's not unheard of for a broadcast conglomerate to have HQ in a city where it has no broadcast presence to speak of; Meredith (Des Moines) and Entercom (Philadelphia, pre-CBS Radio merger) come to mind.

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Geographically, Atlanta is also kinda/sorta between Raycom's Montgomery HQ and Gray's original HQ in Albany (which is fascinating that Gray has technically never left it's hometown; they still had offices in Albany after spinning of WALB the first time, then bought WSWG). They might retain some non-redundant stuff in Montgomery but, really, why pass up being in a top-10 market?

 

It's not unheard of for a broadcast conglomerate to have HQ in a city where it has no broadcast presence to speak of; Meredith (Des Moines) and Entercom (Philadelphia, pre-CBS Radio merger) come to mind.

Also Media General, it was in Richmond, but both times it had TV stations there, it had to spin them off because of the FCC cross-ownership of newspapers and TV stations rules.

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Also Media General, it was in Richmond, but both times it had TV stations there, it had to spin them off because of the FCC cross-ownership of newspapers and TV stations rules.

 

There was a gap of a couple of months between the sale of the Times-Dispatch and the purchase of WRIC. Totally kosher.

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Raycom has sponsored a FBS bowl game in Montgomery called the Camellia Bowl since 2014. Wonder what will become of this? Not sure if they are in an existing long-term contract for the naming rights.

 

If it's not assumed by Gray or is shifted off to the RSA (like it becomes the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Camellia Bowl) they'll probably sell the rights to someone else. Like all of these bowls, ESPN owns the game itself.

 

WSFA is based out of their own studios on Delano street in a not-too-nice part of Montgomery. I think there is also a studio in the RSA tower that WSFA and other Alabama Raycom stations use...

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Raycom has sponsored a FBS bowl game in Montgomery called the Camellia Bowl since 2014. Wonder what will become of this? Not sure if they are in an existing long-term contract for the naming rights.

I imagine it'll go back to just simply the Camellia Bowl with no sponsorship whatsoever for that particular bowl game

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It's never existed without Raycom's sponsorship so I assume they were instrumental in getting it going in the first place.

 

Almost all of the ads during the game were for either Montgomery tourism or RTJ Golf Trail.

So, what would the fate of the Camelia Bowl be if Gray ends the title sponsorship of that bowl game?

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It would probably continue. Since ESPN owns and operates it, they probably wouldn't have any problem finding a new sponsor.

It's a college football bowl game. If they can't find a title sponsor, they're not doing it right.

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It's a college football bowl game. If they can't find a title sponsor, they're not doing it right.

Also it takes money and sponsors to keep any Bowl Game afloat so if Gray ends the title sponsorship where are they gonna get their money from?

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Also it takes money and sponsors to keep any Bowl Game afloat so if Gray ends the title sponsorship where are they gonna get their money from?

 

In this day of the "easily offended" you will find many high value sponsor want NOTHING to do with anything college related for the time being.

 

Current contracts are already n place and set...

 

Best to find some internet startup company with a stupid name that has no defined political connections.

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In this day of the "easily offended" you will find many high value sponsor want NOTHING to do with anything college related for the time being.

 

Current contracts are already n place and set...

 

Best to find some internet startup company with a stupid name that has no defined political connections.

Which you can't find very many internet startup companies with no political leanings these days

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The Paperwork is Up!!

Here's the comprehensive exhibit & merger agreement.

 

And to no surprise, they want to take advantage of Pai's new top-4 case-by-case rule in two Raycom duo markets.

 

In Hawaii (KHNL/KGMB) & in Amarillo (KFDA (CBS) & KEYU (Telemundo)).

 

Also it appears it could be a new duopoly in Richmond. WWBT/WUPV.

 

From p.28 (PDF) on the exhibit:

b. Richmond-Petersburg, Virginia

 

In this market, Raycom is the licensee of WWBT(DT), Richmond, Virginia. WWBT(DT) is an affiliate of the NBC network and is the second ranked station in the market. Raycom has agreed to acquire WUPV(DT), Ashland, Virginia and WUPV(DT) will become part of the merged company. WUPV(DT) is the Richmond DMA’s CW affiliate and is ranked fifth in the market. Gray’s common ownership of WWBT(DT) and WUPV(DT) will comply with the Commission’s local television ownership rule.

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The Paperwork is Up!!

Here's the comprehensive exhibit & merger agreement.

 

And to no surprise, they want to take advantage of Pai's new top-4 case-by-case rule in two Raycom duo markets.

 

In Hawaii (KHNL/KGMB) & in Amarillo (KFDA (CBS) & KEYU (Telemundo)).

 

Also it appears it could be a new duopoly in Richmond. WWBT/WUPV.

 

From p.28 (PDF) on the exhibit:

 

They also want to switch KWAB from being a satellite of KWES to a satellite of KOSA.

 

Exhibit A of the Comprehensive Exhibit also mentions that Raycom/Gray will acquire KYOU outright from American Spirit.

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It's both interesting and not very surprising that they're breaking up WCTV and WSWG. 44 is more or less useless in its current form - from a quick check of the FCC contours, WCTV's digital stick puts a better signal into Albany proper than the satellite designed to do just that. The question is what they're going to do with it...

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It's both interesting and not very surprising that they're breaking up WCTV and WSWG. 44 is more or less useless in its current form - from a quick check of the FCC contours, WCTV's digital stick puts a better signal into Albany proper than the satellite designed to do just that. The question is what they're going to do with it...

 

WSWG is licensed to Valdosta, which is also part of the Tallahassee market. Technically, they could make WSWG a full repeater of WCTV and be able to keep it since it has no obligation to serve the Albany DMA (even though it's their default CBS station).

 

It was this city-grade signal that forced Gray to sell WALB in the first place when they bought WCTV from Phipps. City-grade contours could not overlap back then under common ownership.

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WSWG is licensed to Valdosta, which is also part of the Tallahassee market. Technically, they could make WSWG a full repeater of WCTV and be able to keep it since it has no obligation to serve the Albany DMA (even though it's their default CBS station).

 

It was this city-grade signal that forced Gray to sell WALB in the first place when they bought WCTV from Phipps. City-grade contours could not overlap back then under common ownership.

 

I agree that WSWG is useless as a standalone station. The only reasonable buyer IMO is the buyer of WTXL (whoever it is) and linking it to that station with an affiliation switch.

 

Looking at contours, they should just keep WSWG as a satellite of WCTV, but put WALB-NBC on the DT2 to corner Valdosta. But would the FCC let them? The low-power strategy might be smart there.

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WSWG is licensed to Valdosta, which is also part of the Tallahassee market. Technically, they could make WSWG a full repeater of WCTV and be able to keep it since it has no obligation to serve the Albany DMA (even though it's their default CBS station).

 

It was this city-grade signal that forced Gray to sell WALB in the first place when they bought WCTV from Phipps. City-grade contours could not overlap back then under common ownership.

 

I agree that WSWG is useless as a standalone station. The only reasonable buyer IMO is the buyer of WTXL (whoever it is) and linking it to that station with an affiliation switch.

 

Looking at contours, they should just keep WSWG as a satellite of WCTV, but put WALB-NBC on the DT2 to corner Valdosta. But would the FCC let them? The low-power strategy might be smart there.

 

Regarding the waivers: Amarillo should go back to normal in the July sweeps, so that shouldn't be an issue moving forward, and there is a good case to keep it together. Hawaii is the problem though, they might have to turn one license off.

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Looking at Page 4, there are a lot of states that they will have covered very well.

 

Alabama: only missing Mobile.

 

Louisiana: only missing Lafayette.

 

Kentucky: really, they will have 100% coverage, since while a couple counties are in the Nashville market, WBKO serves them just as well or better.

 

South Carolina: only missing the Upstate (Greenville et. al.).

 

Ohio: while they are missing some of the markets, their coverage will be much improved.

 

Mississippi: only missing Greenville and Columbus-Tupelo.

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