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Nexstar to acquire Tribune


CircleSeven

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12 minutes ago, channel2 said:

Didn't they have the Nuggets? Who were very much second fiddle to the Broncos, though.

 

Sporadically. But there still wasn't a huge draw to whatever KWGN had on compared to the Cubs on WGN or Angels on KTLA.

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15 hours ago, C Block said:

 

A lot of this is inaccurate. I think the biggest reason for why KWGN never developed into a powerhouse is that it never had a major network or marquee sports programming for most of its history. WGN had the Cubs. KTLA had the Angels plus a lot of other things. WPIX had the Yankees. The Rockies had their first season in 1993, and nobody really cared all that much about them as a team until long after the broadcast rights moved elsewhere. If you don't have a big four network affiliation or major league sports broadcasts, you're not going to get big money from ad sales to reinvest in a substantial news department. This is the best explanation for why KWGN never became a must-watch station like the other legacy Tribune stations or other, similar independents that had news in the 80s.

 

Also, it is wrong to assume that Fox sold off KDVR because it couldn't compete with KTVD's 9pm news. Fox sold off all of those O&Os in 2007 to help pay for Newscorp's purchase of the Dow Jones Company and the Wall Street Journal. That is well-documented. Fox TV Stations was under a lot of pressure in the late 2000s to cut costs, so it wasn't a priority to own stations that weren't NFC football markets.

 

 

Sports are a big draw to TV, I acknowledge that, but you might want to consider that this does go along with what I said about KWGN serving a market with less population.  Denver had the Broncos and the Nuggets, and at one time had a different NHL team called the Rockies which later moved to NJ to become the Devils because of just that, not having the population and the support for such a team and we had no major league baseball yet for the same reason.

 

But even if this kept out higher revenue, KWGN was in a lot of ways more of a powerhouse back before they were WB/CW, and they were able to draw viewers in other ways.  People liked them because they had different shows and movies, and they had Star Trek TOS, TNG, and DS9.  And I think in a way, people who remember what they used to be probably liked them better before network affiliation came along, they were a truly local TV station and that's what the station wanted to be when it first aired as KFEL in the 1950s.

 

As for KDVR, yes it's understandable why Fox did what they had to do but that doesn't come without the fact that the station became owned by Fox in large part because of the sports scene here in Denver, they may get to air only a few Bronco games but they did have the NHL contract at the time when the Avalanche came along and won the championship the first year, and we had the Rockies which played into their interest when they gained the MLB contract and launched their Fox Sports channels.

 

This was a city Fox invested a great deal in to bring in a news department and build a bigger new facility to accommodate it, and to have KUSA's owner come along and use the buyout of KTVD to enter the 9pm news scene was without question a punch in the gut.  Not because KDVR would lose viewers from that but more so because many who never bothered with 9pm news were suddenly given a newscast they were willing to watch because it was a product of a station they liked so it's plausible that played into the reason for KDVR getting sold and it had to happen while there was still a lot of money to be made from what they created with the new building and all.

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3 hours ago, tjt24 said:

I'm not sure if this has been posted or not, but I found this on YouTube and it looks to be the new Nexstar end tag with the Tribune stations. 

https://youtu.be/T5crzIfZgKw

 

This is more of an update to their current end tag than anything else. The new music is a nice touch with that four-note signature.

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31 minutes ago, TennTV1983 said:

 

This is more of an update to their current end tag than anything else. The new music is a nice touch with that four-note signature.

 

I was getting used to their old one but this one is ok.

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I didn't notice the change it's still the same from watching Wood TV guessing they are holding off for now. Nexstar should just give Fox what they if they want WJW then they should sell it to them I have Fox buying Seattle as they have wanted to be in Seattle for many years for Seahawks that is what Fox really wants is Seattle that would be there cherry on top with whatever they buy back Denver, Cleveland etc. I guess that the DOJ has no problem with Nexstar owning 2 top 4 TV stations in Indy with WXIN/WTTV combo which I'm fine with since Indy has a lot of media voices since it seems like anyday now that the FCC & DOJ is going to approve the deal.   

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2 hours ago, Megatron81 said:

I didn't notice the change it's still the same from watching Wood TV guessing they are holding off for now. Nexstar should just give Fox what they if they want WJW then they should sell it to them I have Fox buying Seattle as they have wanted to be in Seattle for many years for Seahawks that is what Fox really wants is Seattle that would be there cherry on top with whatever they buy back Denver, Cleveland etc. I guess that the DOJ has no problem with Nexstar owning 2 top 4 TV stations in Indy with WXIN/WTTV combo which I'm fine with since Indy has a lot of media voices since it seems like anyday now that the FCC & DOJ is going to approve the deal.   

 I predict the FCC is going to make them sell.

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9 hours ago, DirtyHarry said:

 I predict the FCC is going to make them sell.

That could be a strong possibility.  FCC could order Nexstar to divest WTTV or WXIN.  Unwinding the WTTV and WXIN news department into separate operations wouldn't be an easy task.

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30 minutes ago, atlnewsfan03 said:

That could be a strong possibility.  FCC could order Nexstar to divest WTTV or WXIN.  Unwinding the WTTV and WXIN news department into separate operations wouldn't be an easy task.

 

The question is couldn't this be rectified by undoing the WTTV/WISH affiliation swap or by having WXIN and WISH swap affiliations? With CW on 59 it would probably drop out of the Top 4 and the status quo would still be maintained only with dominant station on paper switched.

 

The fun thing there is that if such a swap happens that it could muck up the sale to Circle City as WISH would be a lot more valuable as Fox or CBS. Good chance to do a pump and dump as its value would skyrocket but who would want a Fox/My or CBS/My pairing? Gray? Cox? Graham? Hearst? 

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  • 2 weeks later...
57 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

DOJ has signed off with the divestitures that were previously announced.

 

https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/237422/doj-requires-nexstar-tribune-spinoffs-in-13-markets/

 

29 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

Here's the full release from the DOJ.

 

Expect an FCC greenlight within days.

I thought Nexstar already announced the spin-offs in those said 13 markets? Did the DOJ object to the entire Tegna deal? I would have to read the entire statement but my guess is that the DOJ couldn't get past the proposal Nexstar made to keep KXNW with KNWA/KFTA and form a de facto triopoly (which was what I originally said in the Tegna thread in the Corporate Chat)

 

Also did the DOJ tell Nexstar that they couldn't keep WXIN and WTTV together either?

 

Oh wait a minute they actually DID sign off on both the Indianapolis divestitutres and the proposed divestitures to Tegna I was slightly confused for a split-second when GoldenShine said the DOJ signed off on the 2 deals but yet when I went in to read the article it said that they were still mandating that Nexstar divest those stations in 13 markets before greenlighting the entire deal.

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1 hour ago, oknewsguy said:

 

I thought Nexstar already announced the spin-offs in those said 13 markets? Did the DOJ object to the entire Tegna deal? I would have to read the entire statement but my guess is that the DOJ couldn't get past the proposal Nexstar made to keep KXNW with KNWA/KFTA and form a de facto triopoly (which was what I originally said in the Tegna thread in the Corporate Chat)

 

Yeah, Nexstar did announce the spin-offs. Months ago. But now, the DOJ has ordered them to do so. That's how they roll. 

 

This is a formality. The DOJ filed a suit on antitrust grounds; and then concurrently issued a settlement stating that Nexstar had to divest stations in those overlapped markets. That included the markets going to Tegna. So no, they did not object to the Tegna part of the sale. I expect that the FCC will come with that same ruling too.

 

My question is once the FCC greenlights this deal, what's going to happen with the Tribune/Sinclair lawsuit? Since they're damn near close to the finish line, are they're going to drop the suit?

 

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1 hour ago, CircleSeven said:

 

Yeah, Nexstar did announce the spin-offs. Months ago. But now, the DOJ has ordered them to do so. That's how they roll. 

 

This is a formality. The DOJ filed a suit on antitrust grounds; and then concurrently issued a settlement stating that Nexstar had to divest stations in those overlapped markets. That included the markets going to Tegna. So no, they did not object to the Tegna part of the sale. I expect that the FCC will come with that same ruling too.

 

My question is once the FCC greenlights this deal, what's going to happen with the Tribune/Sinclair lawsuit? Since they're damn near close to the finish line, are they're going to drop the suit?

 

Unfortunately, they will, unless the 2 settle the suit before it closes.

 

But getting back on topic they didn't object to Nexstar wanting to keep the Tribune Indy duo together either? It would be very good to see the DOJ adopt to what the FCC did on Big Four duopolies then if they didn't object to WTTV/WXIN remaining together

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10 minutes ago, oknewsguy said:

Unfortunately, they will, unless the 2 settle the suit before it closes.

 

But getting back on topic they didn't object to Nexstar wanting to keep the Tribune Indy duo together either? It would be very good to see the DOJ adopt to what the FCC did on Big Four duopolies then if they didn't object to WTTV/WXIN remaining together

 

I didn't see anything that said Nexstar had to break up WXIN/WTTV. I've only seen that Nexstar had to divest WISH/WNDY to Circle City as a part of that settlement. Remember, both WISH/WNDY and WXIN/WTTV were already-formed duopolies, despite the latter having both stations ranked on the top-4. In the DOJ's eyes, as long as Nexstar spins-off one of the duopolies, it was fine keeping the other. Just like in Norfolk where currently WTKR/WGNT are both in the top-4. DOJ ordered them to spin-off that duo to Scripps (in fact about it the FTC actually cleared that part of the deal months ago!), since Nexstar already owned (and they're keeping) WAVY/WVBT.

 

Expect the FCC to greenlight the top-4 combos of WXIN/WTTV and WTKR/WGNT (the same way they granted the top-4 duo of KGMB/KHNL last year from Gray-Raycom), in the coming days.

 

Here's the full antitrust suitsettlement paper.

 

And I forgot to mention, the DOJ colloborated with state AGs from Illinois, Pennsylvania & Virginia in this process.

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1 hour ago, CircleSeven said:

 

I didn't see anything that said Nexstar had to break up WXIN/WTTV. I've only seen that Nexstar had to divest WISH/WNDY to Circle City as a part of that settlement. Remember, both WISH/WNDY and WXIN/WTTV were already-formed duopolies, despite the latter having both stations ranked on the top-4. In the DOJ's eyes, as long as Nexstar spins-off one of the duopolies, it was fine keeping the other. Just like in Norfolk where currently WTKR/WGNT are both in the top-4. DOJ ordered them to spin-off that duo to Scripps (in fact about it the FTC actually cleared that part of the deal months ago!), since Nexstar already owned (and they're keeping) WAVY/WVBT.

 

Expect the FCC to greenlight the top-4 combos of WXIN/WTTV and WTKR/WGNT (the same way they granted the top-4 duo of KGMB/KHNL last year from Gray-Raycom), in the coming days.

 

Here's the full antitrust suitsettlement paper.

 

And I forgot to mention, the DOJ colloborated with state AGs from Illinois, Pennsylvania & Virginia in this process.

So rather than  breaking up both duopolies in Indy, the DOJ was fine with Nexstar having the Tribune duo so long as they sold WISH and WNDY. That makes sense

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Yeah I have a feeling that the lawsuit will be dropped once Nexstar & Tribune merger is final what would be the point for Tribune to keep that lawsuit going VS Sinclair when they aren't a company anymore. I also agree that DOJ should just do what The FCC does about owning 2 Top 4 stations make it case by case just my opinion.

 

Can't wait to see The Light House at the end of Fox17 Newscast once Scripps is the new owner soon although I say that Scripps is defacto owner now along with TEGNA & Nexstar as well. I have always liked The Lights House from Scripps.

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  • 2 weeks later...
41 minutes ago, DirtyHarry said:

This sure is taking long. Looks like that waiver in Indianapolis is the hold up. Dispatch announced, got approved and closed within 60 days.

That was what I first thought that maybe the DOJ would've had an issue with Indy with the FCC not having an issue with the status quo remaining in place.

 

Turns out it's the other way around

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42 minutes ago, DirtyHarry said:

This sure is taking long. Looks like that waiver in Indianapolis is the hold up. Dispatch announced, got approved and closed within 60 days.

It appears, to me, that Nexstar may have to give up either CBS for FOX and take the CW. My guess they would want to keep CBS as they're the primary network for the Colts although FOX his this year's Super Bowl, LIV. CBS will have LV.

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