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Cox sells majority TV interest to Apollo


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On 8/1/2018 at 7:57 PM, FightingIrish said:

pect Weigel for actually being creative enough to make WDJT 58 in Milwaukee (initially seen as the ugliest dog of the lot of bad stations CBS had the choice of affiliating with in 1994) into a success. Their newscasts have become competitive, and they actually beat the competition by forgoing a 6PM newscast in lieu of Jeopardy, while doing plenty of news in other time slots and on their sister Indy station WMLW 49 (as well as a Spanish-language newscast on their local LP Telemundo outlet - Weigel employs a few bilingual reporters). All in all, Weigel is small, but smart. And they've been able to maneuver all of this into a tiny, successful empire full of subchannel networks and now, stations in rather substantial markets. Good for them.

WDJT wasn't nearly the mess that WGPR-TV was when they became CBS. WGPR's lineup was full of paid religion and super-low-budget local programs. WDJT, at least, had some Program Exchange barter shows that may have been watchable if someone was at home sick. Same with WVEU in Atlanta, they were cheap with syndication, but not at WGPR levels.

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9 hours ago, TVIntheDesert said:

WDJT wasn't nearly the mess that WGPR-TV was when they became CBS. WGPR's lineup was full of paid religion and super-low-budget local programs. WDJT, at least, had some Program Exchange barter shows that may have been watchable if someone was at home sick. Same with WVEU in Atlanta, they were cheap with syndication, but not at WGPR levels.

It could be argued that, with its ownership, the entire purpose of WGPR as a television station was different from WDJT or WVEU. People realized at the time that the CBS affiliation and near-immediate acquisition of the station would result in that going away.

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  • 4 weeks later...

It’s a shame Cox is looking to sell.

 

I just discovered the Roku channels for their stations and they have live streaming content on almost all of their stations with unique local programming. Of the one’s I’ve downloaded (WSB, WHIO (my home area now), WFTV, WJAX, and WPXI), WSB and WFTV has some pretty good programs like Access Atlanta, The Science of Florida, and On Tap with Christian Bruey. I haven’t downloaded the other channels since I’ve never lived in the other areas but are the others as good as WSB and WFTV’s?

This really shows how good of an owner Cox is.

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1 hour ago, jerseyfla said:

It’s a shame Cox is looking to sell.

 

I just discovered the Roku channels for their stations and they have live streaming content on almost all of their stations with unique local programming. Of the one’s I’ve downloaded (WSB, WHIO (my home area now), WFTV, WJAX, and WPXI), WSB and WFTV has some pretty good programs like Access Atlanta, The Science of Florida, and On Tap with Christian Bruey. I haven’t downloaded the other channels since I’ve never lived in the other areas but are the others as good as WSB and WFTV’s?

This really shows how good of an owner Cox is.

WSB has WSB NOW and WFTV has WFTV NOW. WPXI may be the next with WPXI NOW. Actually, in fact, if you look at TitanTV listings for WSB and WFTV, they both now include the WSB NOW and WFTV NOW listings.

Graham has also done something similar to KSAT called San Antonio TV on its OTT apps.

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6 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

WSB has WSB NOW and WFTV has WFTV NOW. WPXI may be the next with WPXI NOW. Actually, in fact, if you look at TitanTV listings for WSB and WFTV, they both now include the WSB NOW and WFTV NOW listings.

Graham has also done something similar to KSAT called San Antonio TV on its OTT apps.

WPXI and WHIO has NOW programming as well but WPXI’s has been mostly replays of newscasts and the WPXI Christmas Parade and WHIOs has only been news replays, I haven’t seen any other content. 

 

Thanks for mentioning the listings being on TitanTV. I’ll have to see it!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Interesting turn of events from the reports that NBC was sniffing around the Cox stations a few days ago.

 

I did the math quickly so I may have missed something but each group has conflicts in the following ways:
 

Scripps: 1 conflict (Tulsa)

 

Hearst: 3 conflicts (Pittsburgh, Orlando and Boston)

 

Tegna: 3 conflicts (Jacksonville, Atlanta and Seattle)

 

Stupid question, but are other groups still able to submit bids?

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Hopefully Hearst is the front runner with Scripps being the second choice.  Hearst would likely bow out of Pittsburgh, Boston, Orlando and Tulsa while Tegna would avoid Jacksonville (but could trade up to WSOC if they prevail in Charlotte)

 

Scripps doesn't have any conflicts except for Tulsa, and they may want to get out of their station there....

 

EDIT:  My bad....KOCO is in OKC....

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1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Hopefully Hearst is the front runner with Scripps being the second choice.  Hearst would likely bow out of Pittsburgh, Boston, Orlando and Tulsa while Tegna would avoid Jacksonville (but could trade up to WSOC if they prevail in Charlotte)

 

Scripps doesn't have any conflicts except for Tulsa, and they may want to get out of their station there....

Why would Hearst dump Tulsa in this scenario? They own KOCO in OKC, but they don't have a station in Tulsa.

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4 hours ago, TCNewsTalk said:

Interesting turn of events from the reports that NBC was sniffing around the Cox stations a few days ago.

 

I did the math quickly so I may have missed something but each group has conflicts in the following ways:
 

Scripps: 1 conflict (Tulsa)

 

Hearst: 3 conflicts (Pittsburgh, Orlando and Boston)

 

Tegna: 3 conflicts (Jacksonville, Atlanta and Seattle)

 

Stupid question, but are other groups still able to submit bids?

 

Meredith, Nexstar and Sinclair also submitted first round bids. Nexstar withdrew theirs since they had no room to accommodate Cox (or any part of it), while Meredith (underbidding?) and Sinclair (behavioral reasons?) were likely denied immediately by Cox. The sniffing around COULD be for conflict stations. Also Tegna has a conflict in Charlotte too (WCNC / WSOC).

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29 minutes ago, johnintx said:

Why would Hearst dump Tulsa in this scenario? They own KOCO in OKC, but they don't have a station in Tulsa.

Not only does Hearst have no ownership conflict in Tulsa (KOCO and KHBS/KHOG are the closest properties that it owns near that market), but IIRC, KOCO and KOKI have a content sharing agreement to provide news footage from either station for broadcast on their respective newscasts. So, if Hearst acquires Cox and keeps KOKI and the other Fox affiliates that Cox owns/operates, the two would fit together.

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On 11/20/2018 at 10:56 AM, Myron Falwell said:

Does ABC insist on reverse compensation for their affiliates like CBS/CW does?

I believe aside from some diginets they all require reverse compensation by now.

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Let's say Tegna wins all of the stations....and they decide to TRADE up to WSB and WSOC.....

That COULD really screw up these markets.  Especially if they take their mode of operation lock, stock and barrel from their existing stations in the market.

 

Hopefully they're not that stupid.  If they were that good, WXIA and WCNC would be #1 in their markets.  But look at their recent track record and what they've done to stations like WWL.

 

 

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10 hours ago, TCNewsTalk said:

Interesting turn of events from the reports that NBC was sniffing around the Cox stations a few days ago.

 

I did the math quickly so I may have missed something but each group has conflicts in the following ways:
 

Scripps: 1 conflict (Tulsa)

 

Hearst: 3 conflicts (Pittsburgh, Orlando and Boston)

 

Tegna: 3 conflicts (Jacksonville, Atlanta and Seattle)

 

Stupid question, but are other groups still able to submit bids?

It's very possible that out of the winning bid, the other two bidders can acquire those that need to be divested.

 

For some reason, I could see Hearst emerging on top here, and selling WFXT back to Fox. Shades of 1986, when MetroMedia sold itself over to News Corp. but spun off WCVB to Hearst.

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21 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Let's say Tegna wins all of the stations....and they decide to TRADE up to WSB and WSOC.....

That COULD really screw up these markets.  Especially if they take their mode of operation lock, stock and barrel from their existing stations in the market.

 

Hopefully they're not that stupid.  If they were that good, WXIA and WCNC would be #1 in their markets.  But look at their recent track record and what they've done to stations like WWL.

 

 

 

Without diving too much into Speculation 9000 territory, WXIA and WCNC could potentially benefit with TEGNA trading up to WSB and WSOC, it's WSB and WSOC that would be diminished to nothing. At least with WXIA and WCNC there's hope for better ownership.

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On 1/11/2019 at 11:35 AM, TCNewsTalk said:

Interesting turn of events from the reports that NBC was sniffing around the Cox stations a few days ago.

 

I did the math quickly so I may have missed something but each group has conflicts in the following ways:
 

Scripps: 1 conflict (Tulsa)

 

Hearst: 3 conflicts (Pittsburgh, Orlando and Boston)

 

Tegna: 3 conflicts (Jacksonville, Atlanta and Seattle)

 

Not sure if this belongs in Speculatron, but I’ll ask anyway: If Scripps & Cox merge and KJRH has to be sold, who would emerge as a buyer?? My guess would be Nexstar, since a) KJRH has had ratings issues for years and Nexstar does own some stations that are bottom-dwellers ratings-wise, and b) since KFOR in OKC would be Nexstar-owned after the merger with Tribune goes through, such a transaction would make KFOR and KJRH sister stations, and therein lies the possibility of a partnership between the two for things like severe weather coverage, among others.....

 

Thoughts???

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  • 4 weeks later...
1 minute ago, Georgie56 said:

 

Appears they may be abandoning the Nexstar acquisition?

Not only did they abandon the bid for Nexstar but this might also explain why they dropped out of the running for the Fox Regional Sports Nets

 

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I had hopes that Hearst would be the one to obtain.  Scripps eh they killed their stations into the ground.  Cox & Hearst are really holding strong while these other groups have made

local news not what it used to be.  I don't know much about this private equality group, but here hoping it doesn't do too much damage.

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If I read this correctly from CNBC, Apollo would buy Cox's TV stations, put LMA's in some markets, acquire stations from Nexstar that they may shelve because of the Tribune takeover and acquire Northwest Broadcasting (like KPVI)?

 

And here's something that would be very nerve-wracking to many of us...

 

Quote

Apollo would also be able to cut costs at Cox's TV stations, which have been family-controlled for many years.

 

I would still be VERY nervous if you're a current Cox TV employee as well, even if you won't be bought out by Sinclair or Nexstar. Just that one line would make me nervous to see what WSB, WFTV, WHIO and a few others could look like in just a few years time.

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The most interesting tidbits from that article are:

  • Apollo wanting to use Northwest Broadcasting carriage contracts to force rate hikes
  • Potential JV for Atlanta and maybe other cities
  • Cuts at other stations

I think the JV in Atlanta speaks to something important. Cox simply didn't have scale and they did not want to pursue it. That's why they are bowing out—not because they didn't like the business, but because it was becoming oligopolistic in a way that would have required the acquisition of a large operator. Any operator that bought these stations would have been cutting them; it's simply the nature of a new buyer adjusting family-owned stations to additional pressures, as unfortunate as it is.

 

I have long-term concerns about a large PE firm returning to the TV game. The stations they are seeking to buy won't help with scale that much, depending on what they get from Nexstar.

 

If Apollo buys Cox, the market of primary concern becomes Memphis. Nexstar already has to divest something there, and it could not divest that station to the new owners of WHBQ.

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  • CircleSeven changed the title to Cox sells majority TV interest to Apollo

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