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Nexstar to acquire Tribune


CircleSeven

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15 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

Would it have made sense for Nexstar selling WVBT and WGNT together since they do trade 4th and 5th place with each other? Somehow Nexstar wasn't thinking in Hampton Roads imo

 

And keep what, WAVY and WTKR? That wouldn't work.

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3 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

And keep what, WAVY and WTKR? That wouldn't work.

Nope, Nexstar would keep WAVY, sell WTKR (and only WTKR) to Scripps and sell WVBT and WGNT together to another unrelated third party (i.e. Graham, Meredith)

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55 minutes ago, oknewsguy said:

Nope, Nexstar would keep WAVY, sell WTKR (and only WTKR) to Scripps and sell WVBT and WGNT together to another unrelated third party (i.e. Graham, Meredith)

 

Nexstar wouldn't break up an existing duopoly without creating a new one. WVBT didn't have to be sold in any event due to Nexstar being the surviving company and therefore the WAVY/WVBT duopoly didn't have to be reevaluated by the FCC.

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17 minutes ago, broadcastfan9751 said:

 

Nexstar wouldn't break up an existing duopoly without creating a new one. WVBT didn't have to be sold in any event due to Nexstar being the surviving company and therefore the WAVY/WVBT duopoly didn't have to be reevaluated by the FCC.

Problem though is this, WVBT and WGNT trade 4th and 5th place with each other (and at times WGNT is in 3rd place) Somthing has to give one way or another and I don't trust the DOJ antitrust department one bit so that's just the reality of the situation, I don't like the position Delhrim has taken on big four and top four-rated duopolies but it is what it is

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On 4/13/2019 at 12:23 AM, oknewsguy said:

Would it have made sense for Nexstar selling WVBT and WGNT together since they do trade 4th and 5th place with each other? Somehow Nexstar wasn't thinking in Hampton Roads imo

 

Both duoplies have news sharing arrangements.

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On 4/13/2019 at 2:52 PM, GoldenShine9 said:

And keep what, WAVY and WTKR? That wouldn't work.

 

On 4/13/2019 at 2:55 PM, oknewsguy said:

Nope, Nexstar would keep WAVY, sell WTKR (and only WTKR) to Scripps and sell WVBT and WGNT together to another unrelated third party (i.e. Graham, Meredith)

 

With a massive transaction like this, Makan (DOJ) would shoot down a newly-formed top-4 combo in a heartbeat.

 

And why would the parties want to break an already form duopoly (WTKR/WGNT & WAVY/WVBT) if they don't have to?

____________

 

Anywho, and I call this a complete shock because of how fast they come with this decision.

 

The DOJ has signed-off on the Nexstar-Tribune spin-offs going to Scripps. Not the overall deal, but just the spin-off going to the Lighthouse.

 

If they sign-off the spin-offs going to Tegna & the Indy transaction in that same way, we might not have to wait for the Fall to complete the deal.

 

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51 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

And why would the parties want to break an already form duopoly (WTKR/WGNT & WAVY/WVBT) if they don't have to?

 

Well look at St. Louis in the abandoned Sinclair acquisition then tell me why we would break the existing duopolies up in Norfolk

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1 minute ago, oknewsguy said:

Well look at St. Louis in the abandoned Sinclair acquisition then tell me why we would break the existing duopolies up in Norfolk

 

The difference in St. Louis was Sinclair didn't want to lose its incumbent KDNL (the one they'd owned since the River City deal), so they proposed to break an already-formed Tribune duopoly (KTVI/KPLR) and merge KTVI with KDNL, and send KPLR to merge with Meredith's KMOV. The DOJ shut down that proposal.

 

In regards to this deal (as of right now), no duopolies are being broken in Norfolk. Nexstar is keeping WAVY/WVBT because they already own it, and as someone said earlier, that duo won't be spun-off post-merger. Scripps is proposing to keep WTKR/WGNT together, despite WGNT being in the top-4. Now in the old rules, if the two stations in an already-formed duopoly were in the top-4 at the time of a transaction/sale, one of those stations had to be broken up to a new owner. But since this regulatory-friendly FCC has basically tweaked with the rule to allow certain top-4 combos formed under a "case-by-case" basis, that's was why Scripps is asking to keep both together (the same way Gray asked to keep the Hawaii combo in the Raycom deal. and the FCC accepted). And since the DOJ basically gave them their blessing today, it is highly likely that the WGNT/WTKR combo will stay a status quo and not broken up in the Hampton Roads.

 

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I see the DOJ approving TENGA since they approved Scripps which I thought would be for the whole merger when the DOJ would have approved the deal? I hope that is what the DOJ does for Indy keep WXIN & WTTV combo as is since Indy seems to have more than 8 voices in the market just my opinion.

 

I wonder in West Michigan if Nexstar & Scripps will swap diginets since Nexstar will own Antenna TV & This TV from Tribune merger as Nexstar owns a lot of the Scripps diginets Laff, Bounce, Escape etc. Or keep everything as is I could see Scripps putting Court TV on Fox17 I don't know if Fox17 is one of the TV stations adding Court TV to one of there sub-channels I think Charged would be the one to go just my opinion as that is WXMI's .4.  

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8 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

 

The difference in St. Louis was Sinclair didn't want to lose its incumbent KDNL (the one they'd owned since the River City deal), so they proposed to break an already-formed Tribune duopoly (KTVI/KPLR) and merge KTVI with KDNL, and send KPLR to merge with Meredith's KMOV. The DOJ shut down that proposal.

 

In regards to this deal (as of right now), no duopolies are being broken in Norfolk. Nexstar is keeping WAVY/WVBT because they already own it, and as someone said earlier, that duo won't be spun-off post-merger. Scripps is proposing to keep WTKR/WGNT together, despite WGNT being in the top-4. Now in the old rules, if the two stations in an already-formed duopoly were in the top-4 at the time of a transaction/sale, one of those stations had to be broken up to a new owner. But since this regulatory-friendly FCC has basically tweaked with the rule to allow certain top-4 combos formed under a "case-by-case" basis, that's was why Scripps is asking to keep both together (the same way Gray asked to keep the Hawaii combo in the Raycom deal. and the FCC accepted). And since the DOJ basically gave them their blessing today, it is highly likely that the WGNT/WTKR combo will stay a status quo and not broken up in the Hampton Roads.

 

It doesn't matter how many time you have to say this (and we can sit there and say that till our face turns blue for all I care about) but at the end of the day, until Makim Delhrim and his Antitrust team at the Justice Department realize that shooting down big four and top four duopolies is wrong, I have no confidence in the ability that the DOJ's antitrust division will do the right thing. Yes I know they allowed Gray to retain the Raycom Big Four duopoly in Honolulu but they didn't grant Gray the same thing in Casper (and look what happened to the news department at one of the stations)

 

Until Delhrim can prove to me that he can be consistent one way or the other with his rulings on big and top four duopolies my confidence level is a ZERO!

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The parties have updated the comprehensive exhibit to include the parties of the spin-off properties.

 

That includes Central Indiana. It said in indianapolis the WISH/WNDY duo is NOT in the top-4, but the WXIN/WTTV duo IS, thus the parties are asking the FCC to keep the latter two together.

Quote

                                      8.  Indianapolis, IN

 

In this market, NBI is the licensee of WISH-TV, Indianapolis, Indiana (CW) and WNDY-TV, Marion, Indiana (MyNet). A Tribune subsidiary is the licensee of WXIN(DT), Indianapolis, Indiana (FOX), WTTV(DT), Bloomington, Indiana (CBS), and WTTK(DT), Kokomo, Indiana. Neither WISH-TV nor WNDY-TV are Top Four stations in the market, while both WXIN(DT) and WTTV(DT) are among the Top Four stations in the market. In order to comply with the Duopoly Rule, applicants must divest certain stations in this market. The Top Four Showing in Exhibit 20 to the application for transfer of control of the licensee of WXIN(DT) and WTTV(DT) demonstrates that allowing the continued common ownership of those two stations following the Merger would serve the public interest. If NBI is permitted to acquire both WXIN(DT) and WTTV(DT), then it will divest the other two stations owned in the market. An application to divest stations WISH-TV and WNDY-TV to CCB License, LLC has been filed.

 

And going back to Northwest Arkansas, Nexstar will keep KXNW with incumbent KFTA/KNWA. But it doesn't say they're turning KXNW into a "semi-satellite" station.

Quote

                               4.  Fort Smith-Fayetteville-Springdale, Rogers, AR 

 

In this market, a Tribune subsidiary is the licensee of KFSM-TV, Fort Smith, Arkansas (CBS) and KXNW(DT), Eureka Springs, Arkansas (MyNet). NBI is the licensee of KFTA-TV, Fort Smith, Arkansas (NBC/FOX) and KNWA-TV, Rogers, Arkansas (NBC/FOX), a satellite station of KFTA-TV. After making the divestiture of KFSM-TV described in Section VIII.A, Nexstar will own its existing parent/satellite combination of KFTA-TV and KNWA-TV (which is unimpacted by the Transaction) and KXNW(DT), which is not a Top Four station. Nexstar’s post-Transaction ownership of stations in this market will thus comply with the Duopoly Rule.

 

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Personally, I believe that WISH & WNDY need to stay together as MG placed them on the same stick following the auction as I still wonder whether CBS would have to return to WISH in order to make this work.

 

As for the NWA, it boggles me that Nexstar would want to keep KXNW as it appears to be of little use to them.

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My sources inside the WISH complex tell me the Nexstar hub (as of now) will be moved to the WXIN facility. But, if the WTTV duo has to be split up than it could change the entire landscape of this sale. 

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It's possible the FCC and DOJ could force Nexstar to divest WTTV or WXIN, as overlapping isn't allowed (top 4 in terms of audience share).  If one of them has to be divested, Nexstar would have to choose which station it intends to keep, and which station it intends to sell.

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KWGN Read the Tribune board members & info about Nexstar at 12:30 AM just before the Simpsons it delayed the start of the Simpsons by 2 mins.   (They did this 6 days after KDVR/KFCT did it)

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16 hours ago, who?cares said:

My sources inside the WISH complex tell me the Nexstar hub (as of now) will be moved to the WXIN facility. But, if the WTTV duo has to be split up than it could change the entire landscape of this sale. 

Makes sense. If the duopoly is forced to be broken up the plot will definitely thicken. Most of the former LIN stations are hubbed from WISH. Full hub, too...not a centralcast/centralized monitor deal. Same with WXIN for Tribune.

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I believe that The FCC should keep it as is if they had the problem with Tribune owning 2 Top 4 stations Tom Wheelers FCC should have told Tribune that you can't have CBS on WTTV back in 2014 when they made a deal with CBS just my opinion. I wonder if The FCC denies Nexstar request to keep both WTTV & WXIN if Nexstar will just keep The Wish TV/WNDY combo? But WTTV can't do it as a stand-alone TV station just my opinion.

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I believe that in order for Nexstar to get what it wants in Indianapolis, I see the following:

 

WTTV:  Independent*

WISH: CBS

WNDY: CW

WXIN: FOX

 

*We all know that MNT stations are for all practical purposes Independent.

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23 hours ago, H4UL4U said:

Makes sense. If the duopoly is forced to be broken up the plot will definitely thicken. Most of the former LIN stations are hubbed from WISH. Full hub, too...not a centralcast/centralized monitor deal. Same with WXIN for Tribune.

So it seems that it’s in their best interest to keep WISH/WNDY together and WTTV/WXIN together. Perhaps this can be accomplished with an affiliation switch. See below.

 

15 hours ago, Megatron81 said:

I believe that The FCC should keep it as is if they had the problem with Tribune owning 2 Top 4 stations Tom Wheelers FCC should have told Tribune that you can't have CBS on WTTV back in 2014 when they made a deal with CBS just my opinion. I wonder if The FCC denies Nexstar request to keep both WTTV & WXIN if Nexstar will just keep The Wish TV/WNDY combo? But WTTV can't do it as a stand-alone TV station just my opinion.

I dont believe WTTV was in the top 4 back then, but WISH was, so it was legal back then.

 

 

14 hours ago, JCB4TV said:

I believe that in order for Nexstar to get what it wants in Indianapolis, I see the following:

 

WTTV:  Independent*

WISH: CBS

WNDY: CW

WXIN: FOX

 

*We all know that MNT stations are for all practical purposes Independent.

If affiliation switches are needed to make this happen the more likely scenario I see happening is:

WTTV: CBS

WISH: FOX

WNDY: MNTV

WXIN: CW

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