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TEGNA To Acquire Dispatch Broadcast Group


Kenneth Kissel

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For those saying sale the Radio stations... If you live in Columbus, WBNS is SPORTS RADIO in Columbus. There is Zero Debate about it! iHeart tried and others did as well... They aren't here anymore! The Fan is a Monster Brand in the city that Tegna just got and how they do with tie stuff together here... This could be a major opportunity to them if done right. They own the rights to the major teams of the Buckeyes, Blue Jackets and Crew with other things as well. If you are a sports organization in Columbus you better be airing on The Fan.

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I’m not familiar with the radio business (save my NPR contributions), especially in Ohio.  (Me)  Seeing TEGNA as a TV owner, I could see at some point, if they decided to sell the radio stations, that the high paper value could work to their advantage (either in resale and/or tax liabilities...).

 

J

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I don't think the graphics are bad, but I could take or leave the music. 

At least Tegna graphics aren't a ripoff of another groups graphics, like what WBBH currently has. 

 

As far as the radio side goes, I think the stations Tegna has will make a lot of money for the group as a whole. If they can get the right digital marketing strategy going there could be a lot of money on the table.

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18 hours ago, DirtyHarry said:

Re: C Clarity

I could live without the oohs and aahs, otherwise it isn't bad.

https://youtu.be/nS8I1FHOCTk

 

I agree. I've always wondered how much creative control the local stations have over the implementation. For example, KGW does not use any cuts with the oohs and ahhs. They either use alternate mixes without the vocals, or other themes.

 

On 8/8/2019 at 10:34 PM, WxNerd said:

Do you think We'll have C Clarity @ WTHR & WBNS by the end of the year?

 

Most likely. My guess is that that the Tegna graphics tank could probably bang out all the customized graphics for a station within a week or so (maybe faster if absolutely necessary, which is never). But, there really is no need to rush, so they probably spread out the work more evenly between their other duties, making it'll take longer.

 

However, I would bet that the biggest issue in implementing new graphics is dependent on the hardware/graphics system at acquired stations. If it's something that has to be upgraded or changed, that is what will take the most time.... to plan, buy, install, and train people. Idk if all Tegna stations have to use the same graphics software/hardware for control room playout, or whether their graphics can be played out using various systems.

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Just one little barometer of how far the news business has fallen. Think about how big Gannett is and how many titles they own. If you look at the Gannett purchase price, $1.4 billion, and compare that to what Tegna paid for Dispatch ($535 million). Roughly 2.5 times the purchase price of two TV and two radio stations.

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On 8/10/2019 at 5:07 AM, PTVNews said:

 

I agree. I've always wondered how much creative control the local stations have over the implementation. For example, KGW does not use any cuts with the oohs and ahhs. They either use alternate mixes without the vocals, or other themes.

 

 

Most likely. My guess is that that the Tegna graphics tank could probably bang out all the customized graphics for a station within a week or so (maybe faster if absolutely necessary, which is never). But, there really is no need to rush, so they probably spread out the work more evenly between their other duties, making it'll take longer.

 

However, I would bet that the biggest issue in implementing new graphics is dependent on the hardware/graphics system at acquired stations. If it's something that has to be upgraded or changed, that is what will take the most time.... to plan, buy, install, and train people. Idk if all Tegna stations have to use the same graphics software/hardware for control room playout, or whether their graphics can be played out using various systems.

I know for a fact, WBNS and WTHR both run VizRT as the graphics system. I don't know what Tegna runs its graphics system from.

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20 minutes ago, ColumbusNewsFan said:

I know for a fact, WBNS and WTHR both run VizRT as the graphics system. I don't know what Tegna runs its graphics system from.

Gannett used Chyron at one point, but that may have changed over the past 5 years. Belo started to roll out Miranda in late 2012; Gannett may or may not have finished the rollout among the by then ex-Belo stations. I'm not sure if TEGNA (or the ex-Belo stations that went to Meredith) is continuing to use Miranda.

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4 hours ago, Conrad said:

Gannett used Chyron at one point, but that may have changed over the past 5 years. Belo started to roll out Miranda in late 2012; Gannett may or may not have finished the rollout among the by then ex-Belo stations. I'm not sure if TEGNA (or the ex-Belo stations that went to Meredith) is continuing to use Miranda.

 

I just learned through a source of mine that KGW currently uses Miranda. I've never really heard of it.

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8 hours ago, Breaking News said:

 

I think the fact that this became a story means that Apollo is getting nowhere and wanted to force the issue with investors through the media. Scripps and Tegna outbid them for the Nexstar stations, I'm guessing the same for the WBNS/WTHR. They don't need Apollo.

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On 8/19/2019 at 2:19 PM, DirtyHarry said:

 

I think the fact that this became a story means that Apollo is getting nowhere and wanted to force the issue with investors through the media. Scripps and Tegna outbid them for the Nexstar stations, I'm guessing the same for the WBNS/WTHR. They don't need Apollo.

Maybe Apollo desperately wants to buy more stations so they decide to go to TEGNA (despite that TEGNA is in a "buy anything" mode).

 

What I really want (but seriously doubt would happen) is undoing the Gannett-Belo merger. Spin off the ex-Belo and ex-London stations (including KMSB/KTTU) as well as KWES to a separate company, have that company buy KTVK and KMOV from Meredith and KASW from Scripps, call the new company Belo, bring Dunia Shive back as the CEO (or have some other Belo person run it that is NOT Dave Lougee), and it'll make my day and bring stations like WFAA and WWL back to where they once were.

 

Then maybe when Griffin goes under, this new Belo can buy them. This will add on KOTV, which Belo owned from 1984-2000.

 

Perhaps they could even buy A.H. Belo given their really small size at this point not to mention that their stock price and performance is now ridiculously low. Then they can have both TV and newspapers.

 

But one can only wish.

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6 hours ago, DirtyHarry said:

 

I think the fact that this became a story means that Apollo is getting nowhere and wanted to force the issue with investors through the media. Scripps and Tegna outbid them for the Nexstar stations, I'm guessing the same for the WBNS/WTHR. They don't need Apollo.

If the deal was as sour it may seems to be; Hearst which put it bid in would of been great to get Cox Stations.  There (3) markets that have conflicts, Orlando, Pittsburgh & Boston, and those could of been iron out.  Cox & Hearst both privately held and both have good stations.  The new normal broadcasting companies; Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray, TEGNA & Scripps which all are nothing but mediocre broadcasting companies.  At least Cox & Hearst standards have always been high.  As for Apollo I wonder what their standards will be? [Time will tell]

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43 minutes ago, Breaking News said:

If the deal was as sour it may seems to be; Hearst which put it bid in would of been great to get Cox Stations.  There (3) markets that have conflicts, Orlando, Pittsburgh & Boston, and those could of been iron out.  Cox & Hearst both privately held and both have good stations.  The new normal broadcasting companies; Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray, TEGNA & Scripps which all are nothing but mediocre broadcasting companies.  At least Cox & Hearst standards have always been high.  As for Apollo I wonder what their standards will be? [Time will tell]

 

and if all else fails, may as well be O&O or Independent (Whichever Works).  The Dispatch Broadcast Group does deserve a better company though.

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22 hours ago, Darius22 said:

 

and if all else fails, may as well be O&O or Independent (Whichever Works).  The Dispatch Broadcast Group does deserve a better company though.

Dispatch towards the end was just like Cox and others. They were desperately getting out of the business.  Yes, WBNS has it legacy but from what I was told the children didn't have the interest in television. They didn't care

who bought the station. Personally, I told someone that TEGNA would be the one to get the (2) stations.  I also think the same thing is going on at Cox.  The younger generation in these family dynasty don't see television as a cash cow. Cox, has it hand in healthcare etc.

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1 hour ago, Breaking News said:

Dispatch towards the end was just like Cox and others. They were desperately getting out of the business.  Yes, WBNS has it legacy but from what I was told the children didn't have the interest in television. They didn't care

who bought the station. Personally, I told someone that TEGNA would be the one to get the (2) stations.  I also think the same thing is going on at Cox.  The younger generation in these family dynasty don't see television as a cash cow. Cox, has it hand in healthcare etc.

 

Ownership is also dispersed among several, maybe even numerous, family members. It wasn't just their decision. As we discussed before, two stations is a dangerous place to be. All Sinclair has to do is steal the CBS affiliation away from WBNS and throw it on Channel 53 and the Wolfes just lost $200 million. I think they learned their lesson from the bath they took on The Dispatch and on National City Bank (where they had a huge stake from the BancOhio merger that was decimated during the recession), TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN!

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On 8/9/2019 at 11:35 PM, ColumbusNewsFan said:

For those saying sale the Radio stations... If you live in Columbus, WBNS is SPORTS RADIO in Columbus. There is Zero Debate about it! iHeart tried and others did as well... They aren't here anymore! The Fan is a Monster Brand in the city that Tegna just got and how they do with tie stuff together here... This could be a major opportunity to them if done right. They own the rights to the major teams of the Buckeyes, Blue Jackets and Crew with other things as well. If you are a sports organization in Columbus you better be airing on The Fan.

Moreover, the Ohio State IMG Sports radio network is co-owned by IMG and Tegna (THE Ohio State University sold off their stake to IMG and Dispatch/RadiOhio in 2009). It's a literal ATM with 50+ affiliates around the state.

 

And has been noted, iHeart tried twice to compete with The Fan (with 1230 and later with 105.7) as well as long-gone Wilks (95.5, a Lancaster rimshot) and 97.1 simply steamrolled them.

 

On 8/10/2019 at 12:23 AM, compubit said:

I’m not familiar with the radio business (save my NPR contributions), especially in Ohio.  (Me)  Seeing TEGNA as a TV owner, I could see at some point, if they decided to sell the radio stations, that the high paper value could work to their advantage (either in resale and/or tax liabilities...).

 

J

If iHeart pulled up four Brinks trucks at Tegna HQ, then sure, 97.1/1460 could be sold.

 

But the value of the Ohio State radio rights and the 50% ownership stake in the Ohio State radio network will make it cost-prohibitive for any buyer, be it iHeart, Saga, Urban One or NABCO. Especially in an industry where iHeart is not going to buy any new stations and the overall market is as depressed as its' ever been.

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20 hours ago, DirtyHarry said:

 

Ownership is also dispersed among several, maybe even numerous, family members. It wasn't just their decision. As we discussed before, two stations is a dangerous place to be. All Sinclair has to do is steal the CBS affiliation away from WBNS and throw it on Channel 53 and the Wolfes just lost $200 million. I think they learned their lesson from the bath they took on The Dispatch and on National City Bank (where they had a huge stake from the BancOhio merger that was decimated during the recession), TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN!

Probably best summed up as "economy of scale." You're also seeing it in radio, albeit in a per cluster basis as opposed to overall station count... Cumulus bailing out of New York, LA and Washington DC, and Radio One bailing out of Detroit, two groups that had no clout with their meager clusters in those major markets.

 

Regardless of how committed to broadcasting the Wolfe family was/is, Dispatch had the same problem that Midwest had and other small chains had. Ultimately they cannot compete on the large scale with superchains like Sinclair, Tegna, Scripps and Nexstar.

 

And honestly, the fact that WSVN and WHDH print money at a shocking rate is the only reason why Ed Ansin hasn't cashed in. If he only had WBNS and WTHR, he definitely would have sold out.

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16 hours ago, DENDude said:

Dave Lougee was KUSA's news director when they switched from ABC to NBC in 1995.

I know.

 

But I really wish TEGNA undid the Gannett-Belo merger. It adds variety in a world where the model we're going toward is Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray, TEGNA, Scripps, and the networks only.

 

Question about Dave Lougee: When did he start at Belo? I know he left Belo for Gannett in July 2007.

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1 hour ago, Myron Falwell said:

And honestly, the fact that WSVN and WHDH print money at a shocking rate is the only reason why Ed Ansin hasn't cashed in. If he only had WBNS and WTHR, he definitely would have sold out.

 

Don't underestimate WBNS and WTHR. The Dispatch stations sold for 7.9 times earnings. Backing it out of the purchase price, the group was making $68 million a year, which sounds like enough of a cash cow to me. I think the issue here is fear of losing that cash cow because of changes in the industry. The Wolfes own 20% of the Arena District, 10% of the Blue Jackets and partner in the best real estate all over the city. They probably make more money there with a lot less risk.

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