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Cox sells majority TV interest to Apollo


The Frog

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1 hour ago, Ramona said:

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.

 

Not to get too far of of topic but there will be other opportunities to acquire stations for Apollo as well. I'm going in this wishing the Cox employees hoping the best and hoping that there may be a scenario in which the whole group became a JV between Cox and Apollo (that may be far out but could happen). 

 

With this said, the fact that Apollo is using Northwest for scale makes me wonder if they'll then try to get the smaller groups like Hubbard, who has been silent on the TV front as of late or somebody else like that. I didn't even know Brian Brady had been interested in selling.

 

A lot of people regularly say Meredith is the next one to go. If Meredith doesn't get any of the Tribune castoffs, I think we can count on that and then they'll be potentially coming to Apollo next. 

 

 

If Apollo wants to do this the right way, they better be letting the people who run Cox run this combined group, though. 

12 minutes ago, Megatron81 said:

It was going to happen that Apollo was going to buy a TV Station Group. Surprised they may have bought Northwest and maybe buy some TV Stations from Nexstar & Tribune merger. 

 

If you read the article, it does say they're trying to do it. It certainly won't shock me if they get everything not called WATN and maybe not KSTU as well. 

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If past is prologue, Apollo will do what Providence (Newport) and Oak Hill (Local TV) did; and that’s hold onto the stations until the perfect deal shows up. I doubt they’re looking at this as a long term investment. Also keep in mind that Tribune rejected their overtures earlier, and they were even more eager to sell than Cox is. I’d put this in the rumor column.

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News of this is semi-reassuring.  It opens the door for their strong stations to be run like before and not be cast off to another operator......for now.

 

The budget cuts could come to the weaker stations that haven't been a good return on investment.

 

Then again, it does seem like a placeholder for a future merger.  If Meredith is a future target, you can bet that WSB will be kept and WGCL sold off post haste....

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2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

News of this is semi-reassuring.  It opens the door for their strong stations to be run like before and not be cast off to another operator......for now.

 

The budget cuts could come to the weaker stations that haven't been a good return on investment.

 

Then again, it does seem like a placeholder for a future merger.  If Meredith is a future target, you can bet that WSB will be kept and WGCL sold off post haste....

 

Won't the weaker stations have a hard time competing if Apollo slashes them? Seems like a self-repeating cycle to me.

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2 hours ago, TVIntheDesert said:

If Apollo does buy Cox, what happens to the national TV sales representation division? They've lost the Raycom stations when Gray decided to do everything in-house, and they're about to lose the Tribune stations when Nexstar takes over. 

 

They'll probably keep it so they can have an in-house national sales division (and probably also use it for the Northwest stations, which Apollo are also reportedly acquiring).

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

At least, for once, the buyer is not a company called Sinclair or Nexstar.  That alone, saves some hope that they could possibly not be subject to a company that takes charge and runs things THEIR way...

 

It looks like they are hanging on to the Ohio newspaper and radio properties around Dayton tied into WHIO.  No mention of the AJC or the Cox radio stations in other parts of the country...

 

Hopefully down the line, they will get the Northwest stations and the Nexstar spinoffs where they can....

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2 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

I wonder if they will still be called Cox Media Group?

They plan on calling the new broadcast group a totally different name, not sure what the name is going to be at this point in time. I imagine we'll know more over the next few weeks

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4 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

At least, for once, the buyer is not a company called Sinclair or Nexstar.  That alone, saves some hope that they could possibly not be subject to a company that takes charge and runs things THEIR way...

 

It looks like they are hanging on to the Ohio newspaper and radio properties around Dayton tied into WHIO.  No mention of the AJC or the Cox radio stations in other parts of the country...

 

Hopefully down the line, they will get the Northwest stations and the Nexstar spinoffs where they can....

 

Anytime a private equity firm takes over it's bad...

 

The bottom line is some of these stations, and their assets will be sacrificed for the sake of other stations in the chain.

 

That's just how it works...don't expect anything  good for the staffers, because COX is about to be gutted, and filleted...just like so many of my sea faring  friends.

 

Flashback 1986...Storer and KKR.

 

We shall never forget.

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12 hours ago, ColumbusNewsFan said:

@tyrannical bastard just hearing from reports... in Dayton and Atlanta, Newspaper and Radio are moving into the New Apollo Cox company.

Not true. Apollo gets the Dayton Daily News and Dayton radio. Cox is keeping the AJC and Atlanta radio, as well as the rest of the Cox radio stations in other markets across the country such as Houston. For now. 

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12 hours ago, Greggo said:

 Cox is keeping the AJC and Atlanta radio, as well as the rest of the Cox radio stations in other markets across the country such as Houston. For now. 

 

As soon as COX finds the desirable buyers for those outlets, then they will be disposed of also.

 

COX is not selling off the TV stations and newspapers just so they can stay in radio and print.

 

I suggest you all hold your wake(s) now.

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