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Gray/Raycom Merger Thread


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By divesting television stations in each of the nine overlap markets, Gray ensures that the Gray/Raycom combination will not reduce competition in those local markets and otherwise complies with regulatory requirements. Gray will not have any joint sales, joint retransmission, shared services, or local marketing arrangements with any divested station. Additionally, Gray will not hold an option to repurchase any divested station, nor will Gray finance or guarantee any purchaser’s indebtedness. In short, following consummation of the transactions, the divested stations will operate independently of Gray and under the full control of their new owners.

 

In short, “Kiss my ass, Sinclair”.

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What does this do with the WUPW SSA with American Spirit in Toledo? Does TEGNA pick that up too, or will they move that over to WTVG?

Yup, the SSA for WUPW will be transferred over to Tegna.

WTOL and KWES are going to crap

WTOL is the #1 station in a two-station market and will continue to be even when the C Clarity/*clap clap*/NXT stuff arrives.

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How did Scripps decide on Waco? I get Tallahassee but Waco seems a bit random...

 

Do you think those are the only two stations they bid on or tried to negotiate a deal for? Obviously, they placed a different valuation on the ABC affils than the other groups did.

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The way Gray worded things in the title of the divestiture announcement alone seems to imply that it will acquire the SSAs involving the American Spirit stations, in a manner akin to how Nexstar kept the SSAs involving White Knight Broadcasting when it acquired ComCorp in 2013. Gray could have asked for waivers to acquire the complete assets of those stations from American Spirit directly to form legal duopolies, but such a move would have been done when the transaction was filed with the FCC.

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It now appears that Graycom has found new homes for all the stations that needed to be divested, https://seekingalpha.com/news/3384335-gray-sets-divestitures-eight-markets-raycom-deal

 

Here's the List:

Lockwood (4): WTNZ, WFXG, WPGX, WDFX, all of which are FOX stations and would result in a duopoly in Knoxville.

Scripps (2): KXXV/KRHD, WTXL

Tegna (2): WTOL, KWES

Marquee (1): WSWG, the only Gray station that'll be divested.

 

As for Lockwood, just when we believe that they're about to cash out they turn around and add to their portfolio and will gain a duopoly in Knoxville with independent WKNX.

 

A message to Sinclair, see how simple a divestiture can be when you sell to existing companies and not your BFF or car dealer.

 

Lockwood? Seriously? WFXG finally had a chance to have a decent ownership and potentially a full-fledged in-house news department and they get Lockwood... Who will likely run it status quo like they did KAKE when Gray acquired KWCH and had to divest it. Looks to be status quo for WFXG (minus the cancellation of the 10pm produced by WTOC).

 

Could Gray swoop in and trade out NBC in Augusta & Dothan, and CBS in Panama City to Lockwood? That way, it gives Gray natural duopolies that can co-exist instead of programming on top of each other....

 

Impossible. Gray successfully turned the former WAGT into a clone of WRDW and minimized it to absolutely nothing. It's basically just on the air to satisfy network requirements, otherwise the NBC affiliation would have moved to WRDW's subchannel space.

 

Also, will Lockwood finally migrate WFXG into a 100% fully functioning in-house news department (the 10pm still comes from WTOC)?

 

That's up in the air at this point. If anything, I'd be worried if I work for WFXG, it could mean the shuttering of the news department entirely. I don't see Lockwood as one to truly "invest" in their stations.

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That's up in the air at this point. If anything, I'd be worried if I work for WFXG, it could mean the shuttering of the news department entirely. I don't see Lockwood as one to truly "invest" in their stations.

I have my doubts they'd shutter the news department. If anything, they might go forward with transferring production of the 10:00 p.m. newscast to Augusta, but run the news department in a similar manner to how Lockwood currently runs KTEN's news ops.

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Do you think those are the only two stations they bid on or tried to negotiate a deal for? Obviously, they placed a different valuation on the ABC affils than the other groups did.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if they tried to get WTOL.

 

Speaking of which, I feel like C Clarity is gonna be an upgrade over Guardian!

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Brian Lorenzen said that since the Gray-Raycom deal was announced in June it has been a stressful period for the entire WTOL staff given the certainty of a future sale but no inkling as to who the buyer might be “It’s been an emotional time for all of us,”

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I have my doubts they'd shutter the news department. If anything, they might go forward with transferring production of the 10:00 p.m. newscast to Augusta, but run the news department in a similar manner to how Lockwood currently runs KTEN's news ops.

 

I wonder how easy it would be for Lockwood to set up news share agreements with Nexstar in those markets. It would be a downgrade in Dothan and a lateral move in Knoxville (where WATE has wanted back in at mornings/10 since WBXX went to Gray/WVLT) but would be an upgrade in Augusta and Panama City.

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Yup, the SSA for WUPW will be transferred over to Tegna.

 

WTOL is the #1 station in a two-station market and will continue to be even when the C Clarity/*clap clap*/NXT stuff arrives.

 

The « C Clarity/*clap clap*/NXT stuff, » or the Newsy-type music, as I like to call it, might be well received in Toledo w/WTOL. Not so sure about Midland/Odessa & KWES....

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The « C Clarity/*clap clap*/NXT stuff, » or the Newsy-type music, as I like to call it, might be well received in Toledo w/WTOL. Not so sure about Midland/Odessa & KWES....

WTOL is a solid station that’s in the “if it ain’t broke” category. Tegna is inevitably going to do their thing, but within the lines of how they run WKYC to the east, which is still a solid #2 in Cleveland.

 

I may be one of a few that doesn’t mind the whole Tegna image package. The random coloring and “NXT” gimmick I can absolutely do without, but I like the overall concept.

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WTOL is a solid station that’s in the “if it ain’t broke” category. Tegna is inevitably going to do their thing, but within the lines of how they run WKYC to the east, which is still a solid #2 in Cleveland.

 

I may be one of a few that doesn’t mind the whole Tegna image package. The random coloring and “NXT” gimmick I can absolutely do without, but I like the overall concept.

Or KARE to the northwest (do they still have their light-hearted approach?)

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I wonder how easy it would be for Lockwood to set up news share agreements with Nexstar in those markets. It would be a downgrade in Dothan and a lateral move in Knoxville (where WATE has wanted back in at mornings/10 since WBXX went to Gray/WVLT) but would be an upgrade in Augusta and Panama City.

 

It's not far fetched. WJBF used to produce WFXG's newscasts so it would be a return for them.

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The press release said KOSA was #1 and KWES was #2. Maybe they've swapped positions though...

 

(And even if they had, keeping KOSA would be easier because it's already integrated into Gray's infrastructure, I imagine - they seem uninterested in getting most of those Raycom conflicts in line with their way of doing things)

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YEARS ago, WJHG produced a 9pm show for WPGX (under Waitt ownership way back in the 1990s). It failed, and Panama City has been 9pm news-less since.

 

Since then, WPGX has dabbled in syndication and even a local news-talk show hosted by the one-time mayor of PCB. Think of it as a low-budget redneck version of the Allman Report.

Morning show? They sold the air time to former WMBB midday anchor Tom Najjar who had his own morning-like show...sort of like a REALLY low-budget pay-for-play lifestyle program. Several other hosts have attempted the same, and I think it's now just general paid programming...

They even aired those syndicated weathercasts beamed out of Mississippi (WeatherVision) and BRIEFLY had WMBB producing them.

 

WPGX has always been Raycom's red-headed step child. It's presence in Panama City is a sales office off one of the main streets (even leaving their studio right across from WMBB on Harrison Avenue) They've barely had even a website, and several years ago, decided to lay off most of their non-sales staff and basically run the station out of WBRC in Birmingham. Even WDFX has fared better...having WSFA as a partner, since they were historically the NBC affiliate of record in Dothan before Gray decided to launch WRGX.

 

Not even WJHG has attempted a 9pm show on their CW or MyNetwork channel. Even WTVY's CW tried to pull one off.

 

Color me surprised if Lockwood actually does something...seeing as how they are "status quo" operators. Even calling up INN to start a "local" newscast would be a benefit at this point!

Lockwood starting a news department themselves?

The WHCP "disaster" comes to mind.

Tom McGee, fresh off his last stint from WCHS after yet another DUI, was hired to helm a newscast at 6...yes, 6 o'clock and 10pm. From stolen equipment (which delayed the launch), bad production, and even the apparent lack of a teleprompter, the newscast limped along for a few months before Tom himself was forced out, angry over the lack of health insurance for his reporters, and even allegations of the production staff being paid in food coupons from a chinese restaurant instead of actually being paid. The whole thing fell apart days later and Danny Lipford's home improvement show replaced it.

The station later became WQCW and was almost shelled into Gray (owner of long-dominant WSAZ) before being sold to Gray itself. The 9pm news returned, now being a WSAZ show.

 

Whew...

 

EDIT: Lockwood actually purchased the station a year after the newscast folded. at the time it was locally owned and I believe a local attorney (Mark Hunt) who was buddy-buddy with Tom McGee was also involved in some stake of ownership as well. I think they tried to resurrect the newscast idea with no success.....

 

And guess what Tom McGee became after finally leaving the broadcast industry... An attorney!

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YEARS ago, WJHG produced a 9pm show for WPGX (under Waitt ownership way back in the 1990s). It failed, and Panama City has been 9pm news-less since.

 

Since then, WPGX has dabbled in syndication and even a local news-talk show hosted by the one-time mayor of PCB. Think of it as a low-budget redneck version of the Allman Report.

Morning show? They sold the air time to former WMBB midday anchor Tom Najjar who had his own morning-like show...sort of like a REALLY low-budget pay-for-play lifestyle program. Several other hosts have attempted the same, and I think it's now just general paid programming...

They even aired those syndicated weathercasts beamed out of Mississippi (WeatherVision) and BRIEFLY had WMBB producing them.

 

WPGX has always been Raycom's red-headed step child. It's presence in Panama City is a sales office off one of the main streets (even leaving their studio right across from WMBB on Harrison Avenue) They've barely had even a website, and several years ago, decided to lay off most of their non-sales staff and basically run the station out of WBRC in Birmingham. Even WDFX has fared better...having WSFA as a partner, since they were historically the NBC affiliate of record in Dothan before Gray decided to launch WRGX.

 

Not even WJHG has attempted a 9pm show on their CW or MyNetwork channel. Even WTVY's CW tried to pull one off.

 

Color me surprised if Lockwood actually does something...seeing as how they are "status quo" operators. Even calling up INN to start a "local" newscast would be a benefit at this point!

 

Lockwood starting a news department themselves?

The WHCP "disaster" comes to mind.

Tom McGee, fresh off his last stint from WCHS after yet another DUI, was hired to helm a newscast at 6...yes, 6 o'clock and 10pm. From stolen equipment (which delayed the launch), bad production, and even the apparent lack of a teleprompter, the newscast limped along for a few months before Tom himself was forced out, angry over the lack of health insurance for his reporters, and even allegations of the production staff being paid in food coupons from a chinese restaurant instead of actually being paid. The whole thing fell apart days later and Danny Lipford's home improvement show replaced it.

The station later became WQCW and was almost shelled into Gray (owner of long-dominant WSAZ) before being sold to Gray itself. The 9pm news returned, now being a WSAZ show.

 

Whew...

 

Yikes... That's painful to watch

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While WJBF and WMBB hold their own, WDHN could really benefit from the exposure of programming a 9pm show for WDFX. Almost like when WCNC got higher ratings producing WCCB's newscasts than from doing news on their own station.

 

It would return WJBF to it's prior partnership before Media General absorbed WAGT, which was lost to Gray in the Schurz merger. And like I said before, Panama City NEEDS a 9pm newscast of any kind....why FOX, who has been relentless of it's affiliates to air one, has continually ignored WPGX....

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