At the FCC

[CircleSeven 1944]

A small M&A. 

 

Remember KGBY? 

 

That was the former KJCT when the station was on its full-power signal, before Gray (owner of KKCO) sold the station to a minority-owner broadcaster back in 2014. 

 

Now that broadcaster is selling the station. Chang Media Group is selling KGBY to Ventura Media Communications for $375K.

 

Ventura Media also owns stations in Fresno, CA and Idaho Falls, ID. That includes KVUI (which was the former Fox affiliate KFXP, prior to 2011).

[Samantha 2876]

$85,000 was the purchase price for Lilly to buy a TV station in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

LeSEA is selling WCVI in Christiansted to Lilly in a deal that hit the FCC today.

 

There's a preexisting relationship between the parties. WCVI has an ABC subchannel 23.2 which is Lilly's WENY, with paid programming and Lilly's "One Caribbean News" airing in non-network timeslots.

[CircleSeven 1944]

I said this back in April regarding former ABC affiliate (now Indie station) WPGA.

On 4/24/2019 at 2:26 PM, CircleSeven said:

From this latest paperwork, it looks like the station will be in the hands of the creditors.

 

I'm hoping an owner like Marquee Broadcasting would come up and buy this station. 

 

Well guess what? Marquee is buying WPGA for $1M.

 

Edited October 8, 2019 by CircleSeven

[tyrannical bastard 3442]

19 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

Well guess what? Marquee is buying WPGA for $1M.

Being a repository of subchannels is probably the best hope for that station, especially if they can orient it to adjacent markets.

 

If (and likely when) WBNX ends up in a similar situation, Marquee would be a good owner especially if they can get it on the cheap.  They already have 5 subchannels and could easily add more if they do away with the main feed.

Edited October 8, 2019 by tyrannical bastard

[mrschimpf 2051]

On 10/7/2019 at 11:19 PM, CircleSeven said:

I said this back in April regarding former ABC affiliate (now Indie station) WPGA.

 

Well guess what? Marquee is buying WPGA for $1M.

 

Knowing how the station deteriorated without ABC, it can be said that this was a huge loss trying to wage a culture war for this station. Over ten years and likely around $10 million to carry ABC, to be sold off for couch cushion money ten years later just because the owner hated Grey's Anatomy because it dared to tackle LGTBQ+ issues feels like karmic justice, and that nobody is willing to follow you to 'family friendly' disasters like RTV and the other Luken nets (whoever steered the way for him to carry Weigel probably saved the station from just going dark completely).

[Samantha 2876]

In the "M&A we missed" department, there were three deals affecting stations in Wyoming. All three have not yet had their sale prices revealed as no filings have crossed the FCC.

 

KLWY-TV in Cheyenne, KFNB-TV, KWYF-LD and their dependent stations were sold to Coastal Television Broadcasting Company, LLC (apparently aka Front Range Television). The president and CEO of Coastal is William Fielder III.

 

KTWO-TV in Casper, as well as KKTQ-LD and its other dependent translators was acquired by Vision Alaska (Stephen Brissette, manager).

 

KGWC and its full-power satellites and translators were sold to Big Horn Television LLC (Michael Hogan, member). We don't know much about Big Horn Television but it is clearly related to the other two companies, having been incorporated the same day and being domiciled at the same address.

 

All three companies are incorporated in Delaware. Coastal (and Fielder) owns KTBY in Anchorage, Alaska, and WLOV in the Tupelo market. (WLOV's operations are handled by WTVA under LMA.) Vision Alaska owns the ABC Alaska system, which is LMA'd out to Coastal. Hogan appears to have no other holdings.

 

The deal will also see KJUD and KATN, which Coastal operates under time brokerage agreements, be assigned to Coastal proper.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Samantha

[NEOMatrix 1295]

9 hours ago, Samantha said:

The deal will also see KJUD and KATN, which Coastal operates under time brokerage agreements, be assigned to Coastal proper.

The one time I expect an owner to "reassign" frequencies they don't. ABC and CW could easily move to KTBY's stick, or hell, KTBY could shut down with KYUR taking Fox. only thing probably stopping it is the equipment probably can't handle 3 HD streams on one stick and after seeing plenty of newscasts on KTBY, yeah no.

[scrabbleship 427]

36 minutes ago, NEOMatrix said:

The one time I expect an owner to "reassign" frequencies they don't. ABC and CW could easily move to KTBY's stick, or hell, KTBY could shut down with KYUR taking Fox. only thing probably stopping it is the equipment probably can't handle 3 HD streams on one stick and after seeing plenty of newscasts on KTBY, yeah no.

 

Doesn't KYUR and KTBY do minimal news at best?

If Nexstar wasn't maxed out, Coastal would be one of those companies that would be drastically improved by them a la Rockfleet or Morris.

[NEOMatrix 1295]

40 minutes ago, scrabbleship said:

 

Doesn't KYUR and KTBY do minimal news at best?

If Nexstar wasn't maxed out, Coastal would be one of those companies that would be drastically improved by them a la Rockfleet or Morris.

Accoding to Zap2It, KTBY only does a 9pm news (no surprise since they're Fox). However, KYUR only does a 10pm news, which I'm shocked by. One would think KYUR would do an early evening news at 5pm or 6pm.

[CircleSeven 1944]

On 10/16/2019 at 1:00 AM, Samantha said:

In the "M&A we missed" department, there were three deals affecting stations in Wyoming. All three have not yet had their sale prices revealed as no filings have crossed the FCC.

 

KLWY-TV in Cheyenne, KFNB-TV, KWYF-LD and their dependent stations were sold to Coastal Television Broadcasting Company, LLC (apparently aka Front Range Television). The president and CEO of Coastal is William Fielder III.

 

KTWO-TV in Casper, as well as KKTQ-LD and its other dependent translators was acquired by Vision Alaska (Stephen Brissette, manager).

 

KGWC and its full-power satellites and translators were sold to Big Horn Television LLC (Michael Hogan, member). We don't know much about Big Horn Television but it is clearly related to the other two companies, having been incorporated the same day and being domiciled at the same address.

 

All three companies are incorporated in Delaware. Coastal (and Fielder) owns KTBY in Anchorage, Alaska, and WLOV in the Tupelo market. (WLOV's operations are handled by WTVA under LMA.) Vision Alaska owns the ABC Alaska system, which is LMA'd out to Coastal. Hogan appears to have no other holdings.

 

The paperwork was posted on the FCC site last night.

 

Purchase Prices:

KGWC (Big Horn) - $10.7M ($10,733,333)

KFNB (Front Range) - $1.7M ($1.766,667)

KTWO (Vision WY) - $1.5M

Total - $14M. 

 

Front Range appears to be the parent because it will operate the Big Horn & Vision stations via an SSA.

 

If i remember correctly, Gray was buying the properties for around $20.5M (that included the price that Legacy was paying for ABC & Fox). So this is just a few million short.

 

I'm personally not happy that it had to come down to this, after the DOJ stuck their head into the now-scuttled Gray deal last year. As I stated last year, if they would've done that deal all over again, Gray should've partnered with another broadcaster (not Legacy). Let that unrelated third-party (i.e. Coastal/Vision) get the ABC & Fox. Gray could've at least kept CBS because the FCC approved that part of the deal.

 

After the FCC greenlighted the KDLT deal last month, I was seriously thinking that Gray should go back to Wyoming and try that Casper deal again. And if DOJ files suit to block the sale, then Gray shouid fight it in court. But with the Third Circuit vacating Pai's dereg rule, that somewhat complicates things now.

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by CircleSeven

[CubsFan79 57]

33 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

 

The paperwork was posted on the FCC site last night.

 

Purchase Prices:

KGWC (Big Horn) - $10.7M ($10,733,333)

KFNB (Front Range) - $1.7M ($1.766,667)

KTWO (Vision WY) - $1.5M

Total - $14M. 

 

Front Range appears to be the parent because it will operate the Big Horn & Vision stations via an SSA.

 

If i remember correctly, Gray was buying the properties for around $20.5M (that included the price that Legacy was paying for ABC & Fox). So this is just a few million short.

 

I'm personally not happy that it had to come down to this, after the DOJ stuck their head into the now-scuttled Gray deal last year. As I stated last year, if they would've done that deal all over again, Gray should've partnered with another broadcaster (not Legacy). Let that unrelated third-party (i.e. Coastal/Vision) get the ABC & Fox. Gray could've at least kept CBS because the FCC approved that part of the deal.

 

After the FCC greenlighted the KDLT deal last month, I was seriously thinking that Gray should go back to Wyoming and try that Casper deal again. And if DOJ files suit to block the sale, then Gray shouid fight it in court. But with the Third Circuit vacating Pai's dereg rule, that somewhat complicates things now.

 

Will the DOJ/FCC okay the deal with all the parties ( KTWO, KGWC, and KLWY) included.

[Samantha 2876]

4 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

 

The paperwork was posted on the FCC site last night.

 

Purchase Prices:

KGWC (Big Horn) - $10.7M ($10,733,333)

KFNB (Front Range) - $1.7M ($1.766,667)

KTWO (Vision WY) - $1.5M

Total - $14M. 

 

Front Range appears to be the parent because it will operate the Big Horn & Vision stations via an SSA.

 

If i remember correctly, Gray was buying the properties for around $20.5M (that included the price that Legacy was paying for ABC & Fox). So this is just a few million short.

 

I'm personally not happy that it had to come down to this, after the DOJ stuck their head into the now-scuttled Gray deal last year. As I stated last year, if they would've done that deal all over again, Gray should've partnered with another broadcaster (not Legacy). Let that unrelated third-party (i.e. Coastal/Vision) get the ABC & Fox. Gray could've at least kept CBS because the FCC approved that part of the deal.

 

After the FCC greenlighted the KDLT deal last month, I was seriously thinking that Gray should go back to Wyoming and try that Casper deal again. And if DOJ files suit to block the sale, then Gray shouid fight it in court. But with the Third Circuit vacating Pai's dereg rule, that somewhat complicates things now.

 

 

The KGWC filing has a surprise buried in it. KGWC's getting a local newscast, per the SSA between Big Horn and Front Range.

 

Quote

Provider agrees to, utilizing both its management personnel and facilities, provide live-feed and, subject to the cooperation of Licensee as set forth in this subsection, at least six hours per week of fully-staffed and produced newscasts for broadcast on KGWC; provided, however, that such newscasts shall not comprise more than fifteen percent (15%) (by duration) of the programming broadcast on KGWC during any broadcast week.  Provider agrees to be responsible for delivering such newscasts to KGWC’s broadcast facilities in a timely manner.  Licensee agrees to make available to Provider (at no additional cost) any technical facilities of KGWC owned by Licensee as may be necessary to produce such newscasts and to deliver such newscasts to KGWC’s transmission facilities.  Provider agrees to use reasonable efforts to provide such newscasts that are of a quality appropriate to KGWC’s market.  Such newscasts shall be produced exclusively for broadcast on KGWC, but may include non-exclusive videotape, graphics, news stories, field reports and other material.  Personnel of Licensee shall determine the title and format of such newscasts, and such newscasts shall have an “on-air appearance” as if they had been originated by Licensee through KGWC.

 

Identical copy is in KTWO's agreement, but the KGWC contingency is a surprise. There's no SSA for the Fox stations so it's unclear if a newscast will be added there.

[Samantha 2876]

On 9/17/2019 at 3:50 PM, Samantha said:

$85,000 was the purchase price for Lilly to buy a TV station in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

LeSEA is selling WCVI in Christiansted to Lilly in a deal that hit the FCC today.

 

There's a preexisting relationship between the parties. WCVI has an ABC subchannel 23.2 which is Lilly's WENY, with paid programming and Lilly's "One Caribbean News" airing in non-network timeslots.

 

This acquisition has closed, and there's an extra surprise: Lilly's taking over the CBS affiliation effective tomorrow.

 

Well, they kind of had anyway, in July 2018. At that time, Lilly took over the cable slot — but not the programming operation — that had been home to TV2, which had been the islands' cable CBS affiliate since 2009. (News2 is still being produced...and airing on cable channel...4.) CBS USVI does air some news features, which as you might have guessed are produced in Erie.

[CircleSeven 1944]

On 10/7/2019 at 11:19 PM, CircleSeven said:

I said this back in April regarding former ABC affiliate (now Indie station) WPGA.

 

Well guess what? Marquee is buying WPGA for $1M.

 

And the FCC has greenlighted the Marquee deal today.

[CircleSeven 1944]

New M&A. I should call this a small M&A because it doesn't involve a major TV station. But the price tag is "somewhat" big.

 

RNN National (owners of WRNN-TV) is acquiring eight NRJ TV stations for $81.2M.

 

The stations they're acquire are as follows:

• KSCI Long Beach - (NRJ will continue to own sister station KNLA-CD)
• KCNS San Francisco - (NRJ will continue to own sister station KTNC-TV)
• KIKU Honolulu
• WMFP Foxborough - (will duopoly with WWDP)
• WTVE Willow Grove, PA - (will duopoly with WMCN)
• WPHY-CD Trenton
• KUBE Baytown, TX
• KFWD Dallas

I don't know what RNN is going to do with these stations other than keeping the "Revenue Frontiers" alive. Their parent station (WRNN) run infomercials most of the day.

 

And if NRJ Is cashing out, they might as well give up KTNC & KNLA to RNN as well.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by CircleSeven

[TexasTVNews 1366]

With RNN National acquiring 8 NRJ stations, this mean KFWD would drop SonLife and go back on being a independent station?

[NowBergen 485]

1 hour ago, TexasTVNews said:

With RNN National acquiring 8 NRJ stations, this mean KFWD would drop SonLife and go back on being a independent station?

 

RNN is a useless slot on the Altice cable line up.  All they show are informercials.  And although the signal is in HD, most of what they "broadcast" is not.  I guess the mark ups from what people buy and the share the French family gets in addition to the paid time justifies the cost of broadcasting.

 

 

[CircleSeven 1944]

New M&A. Weigel continues its buying spree.

 

They're acquiring Hartford's WHCT-LD from Venture Technologies for $1.5M.

 

Shockingly enough, Hartford is currently one of the very few markets that don't carry MeTV. But WZME in Bridgeport did carry the network to portions of the market prior to 2015.

[CircleSeven 1944]

A couple of M&As. One is TV-related, the other is paper-related.

 

Lowcountry Media, owner of Savannah GA's Independent station WSCG is selling its station to religious broadcaster, TCT for $3M.

 

Lowcountry tried to sell the station last year to HC2 Holdings for $2.6M. But the deal fell through back in November, despite getting FCC approval that July.

 

WSCG was the former CW affiliate under the callsign WGSA.

____________________________________

 

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is selling its newspaper business to Lee Enterprises for $140M. Lee has been managing BH's papers since 2018.

 

As you may know, Buffett bought most of these papers from Media General in 2012.

 

 

[CircleSeven 1944]

On 12/10/2019 at 1:57 AM, CircleSeven said:

RNN National (owners of WRNN-TV) is acquiring eight NRJ TV stations for $81.2M.

Looks like the RNN deal was completed last Friday. 

[east-tx-tv 105]

19 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

Looks like the RNN deal was completed last Friday. 

 

Would be nice to know what their plans are for those stations, including KFWD.

[CircleSeven 1944]

On 1/14/2020 at 12:34 PM, CircleSeven said:

New M&A. Weigel continues its buying spree.

 

They're acquiring Hartford's WHCT-LD from Venture Technologies for $1.5M.

 

Shockingly enough, Hartford is currently one of the very few markets that don't carry MeTV. But WZME in Bridgeport did carry the network to portions of the market prior to 2015.

It's been greenlighted. 

[Samantha 2876]

The death knell has been sounded for KCPM Grand Forks, North Dakota.

 

The FCC today says the station incurred a 312(g) deletion for being off the air more than 12 months—because it hadn't operated from authorized facilities since 2014.

 

Gray had filed to acquire the station in 2018 and would have rebuilt it. Those plans have been dashed.

[CircleSeven 1944]

11 hours ago, Samantha said:

The death knell has been sounded for KCPM Grand Forks, North Dakota.

 

The FCC today says the station incurred a 312(g) deletion for being off the air more than 12 months—because it hadn't operated from authorized facilities since 2014.

 

Gray had filed to acquire the station in 2018 and would have rebuilt it. Those plans have been dashed.

The FCC should've acted on this way sooner.

 

As soon as the KRDK's owners filed that petiton to deny, the FCC should've made this ruling right then and there and not let the deal drag on for 25 months.......

 

Edited March 10, 2020 by CircleSeven

[TheRolyPoly 1843]

17 hours ago, Samantha said:

The death knell has been sounded for KCPM Grand Forks, North Dakota.

 

The FCC today says the station incurred a 312(g) deletion for being off the air more than 12 months—because it hadn't operated from authorized facilities since 2014.

 

Gray had filed to acquire the station in 2018 and would have rebuilt it. Those plans have been dashed.

Oh well...