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Gray Bidding on TEGNA - $8.5 BILLION (UPDATE: They're out)


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Keep speculation in the speculation board. Do not post speculation here.

 

No foaming.

 

These threads have a history of getting out of hand WAY too fast. I will start handing out bans if people cannot control their emotions.

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1 hour ago, TheGuru said:

Man, I know I haven't been in the Industry very long, but this is HUGE, right? I mean, how can they even afford a purchase like that? I never would have pegged Gray as the one to go after Tegna.

 

Assuming this is an all-grey takeover (or Apollo/Cox), do they get rid of the Tegna look or take it over? Imagine rebuilding station-specific packages for all of the stations that dumped their old packages and sounds years ago. 

Unlikely to happen. Nobody is going to undo graphics hubbing when it's built out to the extent that Tegna has built theirs. I would expect Gray would sooner use the Tegna look on their current stations than undo the existing standardization.

 

Hell, the hub might be one reason why Gray is going after Tegna. Why build out your own hub when you can buy a company that pioneered the concept?

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All I will say for now is that I hope that the soon-to-be former Tegna stations will finally be able to choose more news-intensive approaches (not hyper-social media hoopla) for its newscasts with more appropriately sounding music pkgs than "C Clarity."

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12 minutes ago, TheRyan said:

All I will say for now is that I hope that the soon-to-be former Tegna stations will finally be able to choose more news-intensive approaches (not hyper-social media hoopla) for its newscasts with more appropriately sounding music pkgs than "C Clarity."

Honestly, this might explain why WNEP got to keep the Move Closer #danceparty.

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12 minutes ago, TheRyan said:

I hope that the soon-to-be former Tegna stations will finally be able to choose more news-intensive approaches 

You act like they currently don't have a choice, which they do. Every Tegna format that everyone on this site despises was developed at the local level, using other stations in the group as examples.

 

Gray coming in and forcing them to adapt the dead-in-the-water "traditional news format" that everyone on here longs for would be Gray interfering at the local level more than Tegna currently does.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Weeters said:

You act like they currently don't have a choice, which they do. Every Tegna format that everyone on this site despises was developed at the local level, using other stations in the group as examples.

 

Gray coming in and forcing them to adapt the dead-in-the-water "traditional news format" that everyone on here longs for would be Gray interfering at the local level more than Tegna currently does.

 

 

 

 

To be clear I'm not advocating "dead-in-the-water" presentation style.  There's a way to be report the news without being boring or using gimmicks.   I'm just saying that it would be a tremendous improvement to not have C Clarity and allow stations to do what works for them.  Outside of the rare (and genuinely shocking) exception of WNEP, all stations use C Clarity at the behest of Tegna.  They own the stations and have the right to tell the stations what they can or cannot do.  But getting back on point... What works in the Sacramento DMA may not work in Northwest Arkansas DMA, for example.

 

A good example of a station reporting news in an engaging way without Tegna's current idea of social media gimmicks is WSB.  They invest heavily in good investigative reports instead of just being the TV version of Facebook. And there's a reason they are the #1 station in that DMA and not WXIA.  Same thing with WSOC to WCNC.  

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It might be my age talking, but I've wholeheartedly enjoyed what Tegna has done with their sonic branding and their reporting style. While it's not universal, there's something to be said about their break in tradition from the "normal" news format and delivery style. As I've understood it, Tegna has never "mandated" some of the changes that stations make, but rather they've given them the freedom to experiment at the local. Some have succeeded where others haven't, and that's okay. Traditional television news needs that in order to survive. 

 

I'll take quality news over quantity news any day. 

 

Hopefully their legacy carries on when/if they do sell. 

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12 hours ago, Nelson R. said:

@jero23 maybe Charlotte can be an O&O market again...since you want that so badly 😝...WCNC would have to be divested...maybe NBC can buy them...but seriously would be a good idea

 

NBC-Universal aka Comcast doesn't want Charlotte. They had the NBC News Channel next door to WCNC for nearly 2 decades and nothing came of it. 

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2 minutes ago, jero23 said:

 

NBC-Universal aka Comcast doesn't want Charlotte. They had the NBC News Channel next door to WCNC for nearly 2 decades and nothing came of it. 

Didn’t realize it wasn’t there anymore 

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4 minutes ago, Nelson R. said:

Didn’t realize it wasn’t there anymore 

 

If it is still there it's not much to think of.  NBC Universal isn't as aggressive as Fox on purchasing stations.  See Boston's NBC 10 (WBTS-LD) for example

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14 hours ago, JCB4TV said:

Gray/Tegna Conflict Markets

 

Huntsville - WAFF & WZDX

Tucson - KOLD & KMSB

Tampa - WTSP & WWSB

Boise - KTVB & KNIN

Quad Cities - KWQC & WQAD

Louisville - WAVE & WHAS

New Orleans - WVUE & WWL

Bangor - WABI & WLBZ

Charlotte - WBTV & WCNC

Cleveland - WOIO & WKYC

Toledo - WTVG & WTOL

Columbia, SC - WIS & WLTX

Knoxville - WVLT & WBIR

Memphis - WMC & WATN

Midland - KOSA & KWES

Tyler, TX - KLTV/KTRE & KYTX

Waco - KWTX & KCEN

 

Let the Speculation Begin!

 

WBTV and WCNC were markets I automatically thought if. I believe they'll stay together WBTV won't get sold because they only had them for 2 maybe even one year since the Raycom-Gray Merger.  Well I briefly though WCNC was O&O ready it's not. I could see it going to Scripps, maybe Byron Allen could get a major market finally, just a radical thought. In Cleveland I could see WOIO becoming a CBS O&O maybe Tegna won't get rid of WKYC seems impossible. Memphis could get a hand on one of those stations. Tampa will stay, WWSB could go to some private group perhaps Byron Allen again. New Orleans WVUE would be a great FOX O&O that would be good for that station, so would be WWL could stay of go CBS O&O. Toledo highly doubt WTVG going back to Disney (never wanted to personally, never made since to be in it) in a thousand years, maybe Scripps or Nexstar WTOL stays in the group. Columbia WIS stays WLTX goes to Meredith. And last but not least Knoxville keeps WBIR but WVLT either goes to Meredith or Scripps. Anyways that my predictions I don't care about the rest.

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10 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

News department? Probably not. ABC affiliation, perhaps. 

 

Though there news is the only news department that targets the Sarasota/Bradenton area that won't come without backlash!!! I know someone personally there.

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13 hours ago, jero23 said:

 

If it is still there it's not much to think of.  


I debated replying to this because I personally fail to see how NBC News Channel is related to Tegna/Gray/Apollo. But I want to correct any misinformation and confirm that NBC's affiliate news service is still based in Charlotte and has been for 30 years.  NBCNC began in a warehouse in before moving into its current facility - next door to WCNC - off the Billy Graham Parkway.  It provides network news content (b-roll, packages, live shots) to over 200 NBC stations. It is a key content service just like CBS Newspath, ABC NewsOne, Fox News Edge, and CNN Newsource are for their affiliates.

As I said, I don't see the connection to this topic. Network operations aren't necessarily tied to owned stations. NBC doesn't own ia Charlotte station despite the city being home to two different network properties: NBC News has News Channel while the NBC Sports Group division has a studio production facility outside of Uptown for NBCSN. In Washington D.C. both CBS and ABC operate significant network facilities but neither network owns a station in that market. So I would suggest we not tie any network to this conversation until there is some concrete evidence that a network wants to explore buying a station in any of the Tegna/Gray/Apollo markets. 

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I wonder if we have another Meredith-Media General-like situation where Media General WANTED to merge with Meredith while Nexstar was preparing to make a hostile takeover of their own.   Ultimately Nexstar convinced the shareholders to abandon the Meredith deal and the deal was done....

 

A part of me thinks this may be what's going on with Apollo....they are getting ready to up the ante and Tegna is just simply looking for a group to merge with so they don't get caught up in a hostile takeover.

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Opinion

 

The more I read about this, I strongly believe that neither the FCC or DOJ will be able to approve this potential deal even with the large number of stations that would need to be divested.

 

At least with Cox, the most complicated market would be Jacksonville with other divestitures required in Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis, Seattle, and Spokane

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1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I wonder if we have another Meredith-Media General-like situation where Media General WANTED to merge with Meredith while Nexstar was preparing to make a hostile takeover of their own.   Ultimately Nexstar convinced the shareholders to abandon the Meredith deal and the deal was done....

 

A part of me thinks this may be what's going on with Apollo....they are getting ready to up the ante and Tegna is just simply looking for a group to merge with so they don't get caught up in a hostile takeover.

I think the biggest difference with Tegna vs Media General is that Nexstar isn't a PE-firm, and Nexstar was able to convince Meredith and it's shareholders that Nexstar were the better alternative than what Meredith offered them.

 

In the case of Tegna they're dealing with the same person who engineered all the deals at Media General is setting things up where no matter what Tegna is going to get either bought out by another company or taken over by Kim himself, basically Tegna is in a no-win situation.

 

Overall while the situations are similar, however the situation Media General was in and what Tegna is in are totally seperate.

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Let's see..Gray is buying Tegna, Apollo wants to buy Tegna, I wonder is Standard Media will enter the fray soon, despite the fact the deal to acquire the stations of Waypoint Media/Vision Communications is soon to be approved by the FCC.

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2 hours ago, detroiter313 said:

Let's see..Gray is buying Tegna, Apollo wants to buy Tegna, I wonder is Standard Media will enter the fray soon, despite the fact the deal to acquire the stations of Waypoint Media/Vision Communications is soon to be approved by the FCC.

 

That's who Tegna is desperate to avoid from what I can tell.

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18 hours ago, carolinanews4 said:


I debated replying to this because I personally fail to see how NBC News Channel is related to Tegna/Gray/Apollo. But I want to correct any misinformation and confirm that NBC's affiliate news service is still based in Charlotte and has been for 30 years.  NBCNC began in a warehouse in before moving into its current facility - next door to WCNC - off the Billy Graham Parkway.  It provides network news content (b-roll, packages, live shots) to over 200 NBC stations. It is a key content service just like CBS Newspath, ABC NewsOne, Fox News Edge, and CNN Newsource are for their affiliates.

As I said, I don't see the connection to this topic. Network operations aren't necessarily tied to owned stations. NBC doesn't own ia Charlotte station despite the city being home to two different network properties: NBC News has News Channel while the NBC Sports Group division has a studio production facility outside of Uptown for NBCSN. In Washington D.C. both CBS and ABC operate significant network facilities but neither network owns a station in that market. So I would suggest we not tie any network to this conversation until there is some concrete evidence that a network wants to explore buying a station in any of the Tegna/Gray/Apollo markets. 

 

Thanks for the concern, but I said it's not much to think of for a reason. NBC Universal has already vested in and cashed out of NC with WNCN Goldsboro/Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville. Now the Telemundo O&O Low power digital station in Raleigh. My point is they're (NBC Universal) not looking at Charlotte with WCNC. If any network does come back then to Charlotte it is likely be Fox.

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2 hours ago, PTVNews said:

So why is Tegna so sought after? Why isn't Tegna doing the acquiring?

I think there a couple of factors that are making Tegna so attractive to companies like Standard General, Apollo (Cox) and Gray.

 

The first is they have some of the prestigious stations that you can find anywhere in the United States (e.g. WWL, WFAA, WNEP, WBNS) the other is for Digital reasons, we're in a day in age of where a lot of media companies are going digital first and companies like Cox and Gray (Standard too) feel like they can take advantage of the digital opportunities that Tegna has, there's also pressure to buy especially for advertising-related reasons, and last but not least, Tegna wants to sell or merge with someone they aren't fending off Gray and Cox's advances on them by buying somebody else, they're doing everything they can to fend off Soo Kim's advances by avoiding being in a hostile takeover (which is essentially what Kim wants to do to Tegna)

 

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On 3/7/2020 at 1:05 PM, carolinanews4 said:


I debated replying to this because I personally fail to see how NBC News Channel is related to Tegna/Gray/Apollo. But I want to correct any misinformation and confirm that NBC's affiliate news service is still based in Charlotte and has been for 30 years.  NBCNC began in a warehouse in before moving into its current facility - next door to WCNC - off the Billy Graham Parkway.  It provides network news content (b-roll, packages, live shots) to over 200 NBC stations. 

 

The only reason NBC News Channel was mentioned was they operate a facility in Charlotte immediately next door to WCNC.    A few years back WCNC frequently did had one of their anchors go next door and do a live shot from inside that NBC News Channel facility for national stories and such.  So there at least has already been a good deal of coordination between NBC News Channel and WCNC that perhaps goes beyond NBC affiliates in other markets.

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1 hour ago, TheRyan said:

 

The only reason NBC News Channel was mentioned was they operate a facility in Charlotte immediately next door to WCNC.    A few years back WCNC frequently did had one of their anchors go next door and do a live shot from inside that NBC News Channel facility for national stories and such.  So there at least has already been a good deal of coordination between NBC News Channel and WCNC that perhaps goes beyond NBC affiliates in other markets.

I guess? But I wouldn't consider that a situation akin to NECN where it made sense to consolidate. News Channel is the only thing NBC has down there right now. Cox/Apollo/WSOC holds the Telemundo affiliation. I'd be hard pressed to find a sports angle unless you think NASCAR is critical to a network's portfolio. So NBC only makes sense as a buyer if they're going to yank the Telemundo affiliation as well--which isn't impossible, mind.

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