dman748 1250 Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 THIS hits the nail on the head. It's largely how the stations are run on the local level that is the reason some stations do better than others. Corporate just writes the checks. Meredith is inconsistent, but mostly in their buying of properties. They bought KTVK and KMOV when Belo went belly up. It's not far fetched to think of them as a buyer, but I wouldn't count on them to buy the whole portfolio or even count them legitimately buying anything. They'll make a move when they feel it's time, but they don't rush into anything so as to help their bottom line. See Meredith Media General. So (just like with TEGNA) the problems for the stations is the people (i.e. General Managers, News Directors, etc.) that are running the stations. As for Tribune running GCL into the ground, that's not a surprise considering how Meredith has been running GCL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mre29 1338 Posted November 23, 2018 Author Share Posted November 23, 2018 WGNO is a train wreck that can't be fixed. So, basically, Sinclair acquiring WGNO would be punishment..for Sinclair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 So, basically, Sinclair acquiring WGNO would be punishment..for Sinclair. Precisely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 So (just like with TEGNA) the problems for the stations is the people (i.e. General Managers, News Directors, etc.) that are running the stations. As for Tribune running GCL into the ground, that's not a surprise considering how Meredith has been running GCL Exactly. Corporations are not as hands on as people believe them to be. They cut the checks and make the money, but they largely (unless you're Sinclair) don't run them. General managers, news directors, sales managers, they are all directly responsible for the stations they run. If they don't make good ratings, good ad dollars, and don't run the stations successfully for the company they work for, the station doesn't make money so the company doesn't and then we all know who gets cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman748 1250 Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Exactly. Corporations are not as hands on as people believe them to be. They cut the checks and make the money, but they largely (unless you're Sinclair) don't run them. General managers, news directors, sales managers, they are all directly responsible for the stations they run. If they don't make good ratings, good ad dollars, and don't run the stations successfully for the company they work for, the station doesn't make money so the company doesn't and then we all know who gets cut. This is why I think it's unfair for companies like TEGNA and Nexstar to be labeled as "cheap stake" owners for that very reason, if people (like us) do the research on why certain stations struggle the way they are you can blame on the people that are running the stations, not the companies that own the TV station for the recent struggles they've had Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Isn't Nexstar known for not exactly giving stations the best budgets to compete? That's probably changed since they gobbled up a bunch of other stations and LIN Media General though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Isn't Nexstar known for not exactly giving stations the best budgets to compete? That's probably changed since they gobbled up a bunch of other stations and LIN Media General though... Every station owner is pretty much like that. At least when I was at Gray Television, we had to have made budget requests before the beginning of the year or the new budget cycle and corporate would either approve or deny the request for more funds. Each station got X amount of money from corporate at the beginning of the year, and it was up to the individual station to spend that money wisely. That same money went to paying staff members and employees, and was the reason management was very angry when there was a lot of overtime, because that came out of the station's budget for the year. I believe Meredith runs the same way, and arguably all the companies operate like this. You would need to know by like October or November the year before that you would want to get a new set or new graphics or new news vehicles or hire additional people in the next year in order to get approval for additional funds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 How does a company like Gray or Nexstar manage to allocate funds to so many stations? They don't even have the magazines or other businesses like Meredith does... I wonder what threw Meredith off the path of a big merger. Didn't they try to buy LIN in 2013 too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman748 1250 Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 How does a company like Gray or Nexstar manage to allocate funds to so many stations? They don't even have the magazines or other businesses like Meredith does... I wonder what threw Meredith off the path of a big merger. Didn't they try to buy LIN in 2013 too? Probably how it all went down with the Media General deal, they had an opportunity to match Nexstar's offer to acquire Media General and failed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 We're so far off topic now...but it's hard to stay on it. Thank you Starboard Value for being so stubborn... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman748 1250 Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 We're so far off topic now...but it's hard to stay on it. Thank you Starboard Value for being so stubborn... Hey, maybe they don't want to sell at this moment and may elect to wait until after the Holiday's and the New Year are over with before they decide to sell Tribune (but they might not even do that then) Who knows, maybe Starboard Value isn't quite as stubborn as we might've thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Frog 392 Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Whoever ends up with Tribune, Fox is still looking to get their piece. Quote Tribune also has the good fortune of having Fox-affiliated stations in NFL markets such as Seattle, Denver, Miami and Cleveland. In May, Fox TV Stations had worked out a deal with Sinclair to buy seven of Tribune’s Fox affiliates for $910 million, contingent on Sinclair closing the mega-merger that ran afoul of the FCC. Sources say Fox still aims to conclude a similar transaction with the entity that winds up with Tribune. https://variety.com/2018/tv/features/fox-regional-sports-networks-tribune-media-stations-bidding-1203036533/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4159 Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 3 hours ago, CRThell said: Whoever ends up with Tribune, Fox is still looking to get their piece. https://variety.com/2018/tv/features/fox-regional-sports-networks-tribune-media-stations-bidding-1203036533/ Hardly any bit of a surprise, and its' the worst-kept secret possible in the entire industry. But THIS quote sure as hell caught my eye: Quote There have been rumblings that Amazon also has an interest in Fox’s 28 owned-and-operated TV stations, which reach 37% of U.S. TV households. Those TV stations will remain with the new iteration of Fox that will emerge after the Disney transaction is completed early next year. Surprisingly, sources say Fox is open to discussing a deal for the stations because the company can still extract significant value from them, on top of a big one-time sale premium, if Amazon agrees to a long-term reverse-compensation Fox affiliation agreement. If you remember when Fox floated the rumor of did some sword-brandishing at the expense of Sinclair's stock price by entering an group-wide affiliation pact with ION, that also included the whole group being run as a joint venture (and would have had Fox giving up operational control of their existing O&O station group to said venture, even though neither entity would have directly sold anything). Who in the hell knows what the Murdochs want to do now. I never thought for a minute that they'd give up the 20CF studios like they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 They sure seem to want to sell the Fox network for parts. A huge chunk of its primetime will effectively be produced and owned by ABC, now this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Action Newsroom 1149 Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Geez, this Tribune Saga has more shocking and questionable plot twists than any of the current soap operas on a bad day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Frog 392 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Northwest Broadcasting joins Apollo's bid. https://www.nasdaq.com/article/apollo-finds-tv-station-partner-for-tribune-media-bid-20181128-01110 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman748 1250 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 35 minutes ago, CRThell said: Northwest Broadcasting joins Apollo's bid. https://www.nasdaq.com/article/apollo-finds-tv-station-partner-for-tribune-media-bid-20181128-01110 The stations that Northwest owns are in very small markets so how in the world is Northwest thinking that they can go from being a small market operation to being an owner in the top 3 markets in the Country in one transaction? Makes no sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLETVFan 363 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 That Variety article also mentions Tegna showing interesting in the Tribune stations. Imagine them owning both WKYC and WJW? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 24 minutes ago, CLETVFan said: That Variety article also mentions Tegna showing interesting in the Tribune stations. Imagine them owning both WKYC and WJW? They would have to sell one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman748 1250 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 1 hour ago, CLETVFan said: That Variety article also mentions Tegna showing interesting in the Tribune stations. Imagine them owning both WKYC and WJW? No. Look at how the ex-Belo stations are doing over the last 5 years. That's exactly what will occur to the Tribune stations if TEGNA gets their hands on them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4159 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 12 hours ago, CLETVFan said: That Variety article also mentions Tegna showing interesting in the Tribune stations. Imagine them owning both WKYC and WJW? That wouldn’t happen. Tegna will immediately sell off WJW to Fox in order to make the FCC/DOJ happy, but also because it makes practical sense for them. Why would Tegna be interested in Tribune? Well, the “Big Three” of course, but Tribune’s other top 10 market holdings (KIAH, KDAF, WDCW) make for fine duopoly pairings with KHOU, WFAA and WUSA, respectively. And given that they bought KFMB radio/TV - the radio part being a tag-along - it’s not far-fetched to see Tegna just keep ol’ 720 WGN for the hell of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.L. Hughes 746 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 13 hours ago, oknewsguy said: The stations that Northwest owns are in very small markets so how in the world is Northwest thinking that they can go from being a small market operation to being an owner in the top 3 markets in the Country in one transaction? Makes no sense to me. Agreed. Even Nexstar - which started out covering mainly only the sub-60 markets for about its first 13 years of operation - had expanded to include small, mid-sized and a smattering of major markets before submitting bids for Tribune. For Northwest to try to expand into the top 50 (and, for that matter, top 10) markets in one fell swoop is a tough sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.L. Hughes 746 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 1 hour ago, Myron Falwell said: That wouldn’t happen. Tegna will immediately sell off WJW to Fox in order to make the FCC/DOJ happy, but also because it makes practical sense for them. Why would Tegna be interested in Tribune? Well, the “Big Three” of course, but Tribune’s other top 10 market holdings (KIAH, KDAF, WDCW) make for fine duopoly pairings with KHOU, WFAA and WUSA, respectively. And given that they bought KFMB radio/TV - the radio part being a tag-along - it’s not far-fetched to see Tegna just keep ol’ 720 WGN for the hell of it. Tegna would also have to sell KSWB, KTVI, KTXL, KDVR, WGNO/WNOL, WXMI, WGHP, WTKR and KCPQ/KZJO to get the deal through the FCC and DOJ (essentially, they would have to lose most of the Fox affiliates in the transaction, particularly if Fox chooses to acquire non-conflict stations involved in the deal). Tribune also has several second-fiddle duopoly stations that could be paired with Tegna's stations outside of the top 10 (namely, KRCW, and assuming that Tribune would choose to separate them from their existing duopoly partners, WGNT, KPLR and KWGN). Side note: I tried to paste this into an edit on my previous post, but the new layout makes it a bit difficult to transfer quotes to existing post edits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4159 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 1 minute ago, T.L. Hughes said: Tegna would also have to sell KSWB, KTVI, KTXL, KDVR, WGNO/WNOL, WXMI, WGHP, WTKR and KCPQ/KZJO to get the deal through the FCC and DOJ. The stations in bold, along with WJW (and WSFL and KSTU), would have been sold to Fox anyway. Assuming that Fox would want to go with that deal again (and with the same stations), this rest of the divestiture list is not that long or complex. 7 minutes ago, T.L. Hughes said: Tribune also has several second-fiddle duopoly stations that could be paired with Tegna's stations outside of the top 10 (namely, KRCW, and assuming that Tribune would choose to separate them from their existing duopoly partners, WGNT, KPLR and KWGN). TEGNA can’t have a triopoly in Denver (KUSA/KTVD), so KWGN may be simply thrown in with KDVR in the inevitable Fox transaction. Ditto with KZJO and KCPQ. And considering the outright mess Sinclair fell into with the KPLR/KTVI duopoly, TEGNA is just better off unloading both stations cleanly, no muss, no fuss. They’d know that right off the bat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.L. Hughes 746 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 9 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said: TEGNA can’t have a triopoly in Denver (KUSA/KTVD), so KWGN may be simply thrown in with KDVR in the inevitable Fox transaction. Ditto with KZJO and KCPQ. And considering the outright mess Sinclair fell into with the KPLR/KTVI duopoly, TEGNA is just better off unloading both stations cleanly, no muss, no fuss. They’d know that right off the bat. I forgot about KTVD; however, it's not out of the realm of possibility that they could flip that for KWGN (assuming Tribune doesn't choose to sell it to Fox along with KDVR, or even sell it piecemeal to either CBS or Scripps to create a new duopoly with either KCNC or KMGH). There are also other junior duopoly partners that could be flipped in other markets, some (KPLR, WGNT) more plausible than others (WNOL). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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