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Law firm files lawsuit against major TV groups over allegations of inflating ad prices...


tyrannical bastard

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Oh boy.....

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-sinclair-anti-trust-lawsuit-20180801-story.html

 

I don't know why it was filed in Illinois, but Sinclair and Nexstar are (or were) owners whose stations carried their ads (most likely WPMI and WKRG)

 

The other groups seem out of place, but they all own (or will soon own) stations in nearby New Orleans...

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Hypothetically....if this client bought time on WPMI....and was forced to buy time on WJTC, WEAR, AND WFGX.......

 

We could have another RKO General on our hands.....

That's the one thing they'll look at and I'm afraid to say you may be right

 

This mess is going to get ugly and get ugly in a hurry

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Looking into this further....it looks like Clay Massey & Associates is the plaintiff, and their counsel (the lawyer's attorneys) filed the lawsuit.

https://www.robinskaplan.com/resources/news/robins-kaplan-llp-files-antitrust-lawsuit-against-largest-owners-of-local-television-stations

 

I wonder if the typhoon of legal ads over the past several years has had anything to do with this. Move-in attorneys like Morris Bart & Alexander Shunnarah have taken over the billboards and airwaves of the southeast.

And we were safe from Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan until recently.....

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Looking into this further....it looks like Clay Massey & Associates is the plaintiff, and their counsel (the lawyer's attorneys) filed the lawsuit.

https://www.robinskaplan.com/resources/news/robins-kaplan-llp-files-antitrust-lawsuit-against-largest-owners-of-local-television-stations

 

I wonder if the typhoon of legal ads over the past several years has had anything to do with this. Move-in attorneys like Morris Bart & Alexander Shunnarah have taken over the billboards and airwaves of the southeast.

And we were safe from Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan & Morgan until recently.....

Not only that but also driving down ad revenue to force companies to merge, if found true that's another RKO-like situation
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The word “collusion” is a hot word right now. Both in the White House and in the broadcasting industry.

 

RKO General 2.0 is coming, guys.

 

I really hate seeing my initials in a negative light even if they are part of a companies name.

 

What I want to know is if this was widespread in other markets where one named group is talking with another not named in the suit.

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How the heck did Hearst get dragged into this? They're not one of the "six biggest owners of local television stations".

 

But they may be the sixth biggest sales weasels.

 

TV ad sales IS...

The Dark Side.

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How the heck did Hearst get dragged into this? They're not one of the "six biggest owners of local television stations".

Or even TEGNA, neither company has made a major acquisition (other than smaller acquisitions) in awhile. I guess apparently they too were dragging down the ad revenue, but I expect Hearst/TEGNA and possibly Gray to defend this in court and get away with just a warning, the others, on the other hand, may not be so lucky (and we're especially looking at you Sinclair and Tribune)

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The rebuttal can be summed up in one word.....

https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/220045/tv-groups-guilty-collusion-bullshit/

 

The analogy I can draw here is like the many "if you or a loved one has died from taking..." lawyer drug ads. Instead of the person calling 1-800-BAD-DRUG, the folks at Clay Massey & Associates probably found an ad in one of their trade publications "Have you been ripped off by the Lamestream Media in your advertising efforts?" and called them up, and voila! Instant lawsuit.

 

The bigger things have gotten, the more it seems to take to get on board, even given the direction of TV advertising. I think it all depends on who's running the sales department and if the #1 station is really low-balling themselves and dragging down the whole market because of it. When you have used car dealerships and vape shops running in prime, there may be a problem....

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Or even TEGNA, neither company has made a major acquisition (other than smaller acquisitions) in awhile. I guess apparently they too were dragging down the ad revenue, but I expect Hearst/TEGNA and possibly Gray to defend this in court and get away with just a warning, the others, on the other hand, may not be so lucky (and we're especially looking at you Sinclair and Tribune)

 

Um, Tegna's made more acquisitions in the past five or six years than Hearst has in the past *20* years.

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Um, Tegna's made more acquisitions in the past five or six years than Hearst has in the past *20* years.

Other than the Belo deal the only deals that TEGNA has made since 2014 have been the London deal and the acquisition of KFMB other than the split they've been relatively quiet the last few years

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The Belo deal was seismic though. Very few expected Belo to sell, and Gannett locked down four network affiliates in top-ten markets as a result. They also boosted their household reach and clout with the networks (already the #1 NBC group, they became the #1 CBS group and #4 ABC group) considerably.

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Its interesting. I don’t quite understand how sales work however when looking at FCC Political files locally the market leader does have lower rates:

 

Ask any TV sales manager if they have ever been frustrated by the pricing weakness of a market leader. I can reel off 20 markets off the top of my head where the market leader doesn’t price like the market leader and damages the revenue potential of the entire market.

 

That’s what I noticed when mainly WBAL whose price per unit was lower, to the lesser extent WJZ compared to WBFF and WMAR .

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Democrats on the Energy & Commerce Committee are now calling for the FCC to investigate whether Sinclair violated the Communications Act (in addition to antitrust laws) by taking over Tribune's Advertising Activities illegally

 

And in that letter, they're calling for the FCC to question whether Sinclair is fit enough to carry broadcasting licenses should them or the Justice Department find that Sinclair engaged in illegal conduct during the review of the proposed deal with Tribune

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  • 2 months later...
Here we go again....

 

This time, it's bankrupt department store chain Bon Ton filing a similar lawsuit ....

 

https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/dicello-levitt-casey-files-suit-on-behalf-of-bon-ton-against-media-conglomerates-for-fixing-tv-ad-rates-2018-10-08

So we have a Bankrupt department store trying to "Bankrupt" these media companies out of business? Alrighty then

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