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Gray Television to buy Meredith


TheRob

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On 5/4/2021 at 6:23 PM, JCB4TV said:

KPNX was only #1 back in the mid 90s as they were the only big 5 Phoenix station that did not change their affiliation, NBC, in the 1994-95 realignment, and was the host station for Super Bowl XXX. As a matter of face, KTVK was almost paired with KPNX in the Belo-Gannett deal.

KPNX was #1 from the realignment until the late 2000's, as I recall them spitting out press releases up until then. Then Lin Sue Cooney left and they haven't been the same since. KPHO might be the #1 station sign-on to sign-off thanks to CBS, but KSAZ, love them or hate them, is the local news ratings leader.

 

I've got a feeling that the market is still very hyper-competitive, with no station standing out as dominant during evenings and 10pm, while 10 has chipped away from 3's morning dominance over the past 15 years. 

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With all of Gray's plans for Atlanta, it will be interesting to see how WPCH is handled.   They have the potential to turn it back into the superstation it once was under Turner, now that TBS is literally just another cable channel.

 

Given the original content and what's to come out of the "studio city", PeachtreeTV could morph back into at least a regional superstation that could expand distribution through OTT, and if it's successful enough, cable and satellite (but I'm not holding my breath given the NewsNation debacle)

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1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

With all of Gray's plans for Atlanta, it will be interesting to see how WPCH is handled.   They have the potential to turn it back into the superstation it once was under Turner, now that TBS is literally just another cable channel.

 

Given the original content and what's to come out of the "studio city", PeachtreeTV could morph back into at least a regional superstation that could expand distribution through OTT, and if it's successful enough, cable and satellite (but I'm not holding my breath given the NewsNation debacle)

 

They need to keep it away from anything news-related though.

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2 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

They need to keep it away from anything news-related though.

Absolutely.  Maybe the furthest they can go news-wise is some of their InvestigateTV content.   With all of the Gray content, there's lots to work with, including The (insert area) weekend and Circle TV.

 

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18 hours ago, TVIntheDesert said:

KPNX was #1 from the realignment until the late 2000's, as I recall them spitting out press releases up until then. Then Lin Sue Cooney left and they haven't been the same since. KPHO might be the #1 station sign-on to sign-off thanks to CBS, but KSAZ, love them or hate them, is the local news ratings leader.

 

I've got a feeling that the market is still very hyper-competitive, with no station standing out as dominant during evenings and 10pm, while 10 has chipped away from 3's morning dominance over the past 15 years. 

 

It's a very fractured market, that's for sure. We got numbers fairly recently from November 2020 sweeps and everyone had something they won at. KNXV and KSAZ clearly seem to be the best positioned stations in the news area.

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On 5/19/2021 at 12:02 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

With all of Gray's plans for Atlanta, it will be interesting to see how WPCH is handled.   They have the potential to turn it back into the superstation it once was under Turner, now that TBS is literally just another cable channel.

 

Given the original content and what's to come out of the "studio city", PeachtreeTV could morph back into at least a regional superstation that could expand distribution through OTT, and if it's successful enough, cable and satellite (but I'm not holding my breath given the NewsNation debacle)


What’s funny is that WPCH is still carried on several cable and satellite systems in Canada. Many moons ago when TBS on US cable turned from an actual feed of channel 17’s broadcast to a dedicated national feed, most Canadian systems retained the actual local broadcast signal. 
 

Shows up in channel guides as Pechtree TV. 

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Okay. The deal is now on the docket. No. 21-234 

 

Anyone who want to file a petition to deny, would have until June 25 to file.

 

For oppositions to the deny petitions, would have until July 12 to file.

 

And for replies, you would have to file those by July 22.

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On 5/25/2021 at 7:15 PM, DefinitelyIan said:


What’s funny is that WPCH is still carried on several cable and satellite systems in Canada. Many moons ago when TBS on US cable turned from an actual feed of channel 17’s broadcast to a dedicated national feed, most Canadian systems retained the actual local broadcast signal. 
 

Shows up in channel guides as Pechtree TV. 

I believe the original arrangement with the CRTC was for Superstation WTBS to be carried, and when TBS separated from WTBS, the TV station was kept and no new arrangement was made with the CRTC for the cable channel.  Probably a sim-sub/syndex issue since other Canadian channels have rights to the shows they carry.

 

I think the same goes for WGN Chicago and WWOR New York.  Only the broadcast stations are carried and not their superstation counterparts (WWOR-EMI is long gone and Superstation WGN/WGN America is now NewsNation)

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Gray has raised its offer to acquire the Meredith stations to $2.85B.
 

From the B&C:

Quote

Gray Television said it raised its offer for Meredith Corp.’s local media group after it was informed by Meredith of an unsolicited bid that arrived after their agreement to merge.

 

Gray’s new offer of $16.99 a share, or $2.85 billion in enterprise value, up from $14.50 a share or $2.7 billion, was accepted by Meredith’s board and an amending merger agreement was signed.

 

The rival bidder for the Meredith stations was not identified.

 

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38 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

I wonder who tried to pull a fast one? I can think of a few possibilities.

My money's on Byron Allen. The guy's been pushing hard for station deals. He got the Quincy/Gray castoffs, after all.

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If he tried to crash the wedding...

 

I take it the deal for the excess Quincy stations didn't include some sort of clause that he couldn't try to thwart any Gray deals? Like how Kraft was able to fend off Nestlé as a challenger for Cadbury by selling them DiGiorno and their other pizza brands?

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8 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

CoxPollo perhaps?  Although WGCL would have been out of the question unless they wanted to unload WSB...

 

2 minutes ago, channel2 said:

Couldn't they have just sold WGCL (and possibly the SuperStation) on to someone else?

 

2 minutes ago, channel2 said:

WGCL and WPCH would’ve been divested.

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I wonder how some of the remaining staff over at WOIO/WUAB feel about them going from the biggest market stations under Raycom to being below markets that are bigger, with WGCL/WPCH being the new biggest market stations under Gray?

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10 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

I think those at Meredith stations are breathing a sigh of relief right now. Hedge funds are BAD, and Sinclair is even worse.

Looks like Atlanta will soon have 2 flagship stations (WSB/Cox and WGCL/Gray).

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Standard General a hedge fund, too?

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20 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

Apollo and Sinclair also bid up according to the article. It even went past the revised Gray offer, but Meredith stuck with it.

 

I think those at Meredith stations are breathing a sigh of relief right now. Hedge funds are BAD, and Sinclair is even worse.

I'm surprised that Sinclair put in a bid as I don't see them as a buyer, and divestures would have been required in six markets.

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