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Standard General to acquire Tegna for $8.6 Billion


dman748

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This interview of CBS News and Station's Wendy McMahon reads not only as a direct indictment against CBS's prior management team, but a direct indictment on Soo Kim's short-sighted attacks on Dave Lougee and Tegna's attempts to modernize their newscasts.

 

The second Soo throws Dave overboard, CBS will hire him in a heartbeat. And you watch as the former Tegna stations forced to adopt the formula perfected by WFXT, the sixth-place station in a five-station market, are subsequently crippled and stifled by a greedy private equity overlord who only wants to cash out in 1-3 years max.

 

CBS's choice of KXTA as their central "news innovation" hub now looks more and more like the shrewdest move of all time. They're going to take advantage of WFAA's inevitable collapse under Apollo and might have seen this one coming.

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5 minutes ago, channel2 said:

It also comes off like an indictment of Nexstar's whole approach...

 

Also is WBTS actually a factor?

Not much of a factor, but it's that WHDH cleans WFXT's clock in all the time slots that matter most... especially in morning and 10pm.

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Well I certainly didn't expect Harry Jessell to effectively reject this deal like he just did.
 

Quote
My fear is that the new regime — essentially two New York investment firms for which broadcasting is just another asset play — won’t share Lougee’s personal interest in news.

Spending extra on news doesn’t produce measurable financial returns and so it is vulnerable to the cost cutters who inevitably show up soon after the early assurances of new ownership that they love, just love, what they old guys were doing and don’t want to change a thing.

And it not just news department that may get a trim. This is another deal that is going to load up Tegna’s balance sheet with more debt. Somebody has got to pay that down.

If Jessell, one of the most business-friendly writers/analysts in the industry, is saying this, then it may be more doomed than you might think.

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2 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

This interview of CBS News and Station's Wendy McMahon reads not only as a direct indictment against CBS's prior management team, but a direct indictment on Soo Kim's short-sighted attacks on Dave Lougee and Tegna's attempts to modernize their newscasts.

 

The second Soo throws Dave overboard, CBS will hire him in a heartbeat. And you watch as the former Tegna stations forced to adopt the formula perfected by WFXT, the sixth-place station in a five-station market, are subsequently crippled and stifled by a greedy private equity overlord who only wants to cash out in 1-3 years max.

 

CBS's choice of KXTA as their central "news innovation" hub now looks more and more like the shrewdest move of all time. They're going to take advantage of WFAA's inevitable collapse under Apollo and might have seen this one coming.

If you're saying that P.E. firms buys broadcasters just to flip them in like 3 years max (which that's what it sounds like to me) then WFAA/KVUE/KHOU's time under Apollo should then be a brief one (whether they decide to cash out within the next year or Apollo is forced to sell off Cox because of the DOJ considering Tegna and Cox to be one company)

 

45 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Well I certainly didn't expect Harry Jessell to effectively reject this deal like he just did.
 

If Jessell, one of the most business-friendly writers/analysts in the industry, is saying this, then it may be more doomed than you might think.

The fact that the only bidders were a P.E. firm that tried not once, but twice to take over Tegna and Byron Allen that really goes to show how much consolidation has eaten up this industry and why I might strongly consider entering into the public sector after I finish my Bachelor's in a few years.

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Say what you will about Scott Jones at FTVLive.com; he lays it all out about TEGNA/SG/Cox and it a good read.

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/2/23/the-tegna-deal

 

As well as this too-

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/2/23/the-inbox

 

This may answer some of your questions and where things are headed down the road.

Edited by Breaking News
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24 minutes ago, dman748 said:

The fact that the only bidders were a P.E. firm that tried not once, but twice to take over Tegna and Byron Allen that really goes to show how much consolidation has eaten up this industry and why I might strongly consider entering into the public sector after I finish my Bachelor's in a few years.

 

I imagine Tegna being put up for sale as a complete set and not piecemeal didn't help. None of the other broadcasting companies out there (Hearst, Graham, Hubbard, Scripps, Weigel, Bahakel, Griffin, etc.) could afford to buy Tegna because it was so big and expensive. Yeah, I know groups are sold in their entirety for tax reasons, but that's starting to feel like a loophole being exploited.

 

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11 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

I imagine Tegna being put up for sale as a complete set and not piecemeal didn't help. None of the other broadcasting companies out there (Hearst, Graham, Hubbard, Scripps, Weigel, Bahakel, Griffin, etc.) could afford to buy Tegna because it was so big and expensive. Yeah, I know groups are sold in their entirety for tax reasons, but that's starting to feel like a loophole being exploited.

 

It also didn't help that Tegna thought it was worth close to $10 billion as a complete set either.

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46 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

I imagine Tegna being put up for sale as a complete set and not piecemeal didn't help. None of the other broadcasting companies out there (Hearst, Graham, Hubbard, Scripps, Weigel, Bahakel, Griffin, etc.) could afford to buy Tegna because it was so big and expensive. Yeah, I know groups are sold in their entirety for tax reasons, but that's starting to feel like a loophole being exploited.

 

Assuming this deal actually goes through, and I have a sneaking suspicion it won't ... just saying ... Soo will break up the company piecemeal in 1-3 years.

 

And really, the only buyers left are the networks. Hearst, Graham and Hubbard are most likely to cash out, Scripps is tapped out, Griffin, Bahakel and Capitol are committed to their stations and nothing else, and Weigel is more interested in stations for their diginets. That leaves ONLY the networks as buyers.

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35 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Assuming this deal actually goes through, and I have a sneaking suspicion it won't ... just saying ... Soo will break up the company piecemeal in 1-3 years.

 

And really, the only buyers left are the networks. Hearst, Graham and Hubbard are most likely to cash out, Scripps is tapped out, Griffin, Bahakel and Capitol are committed to their stations and nothing else, and Weigel is more interested in stations for their diginets. That leaves ONLY the networks as buyers.

 

It's all speculation. Let's just wait for the chits to fall where they may.

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1 minute ago, TexasTVNews said:

What's going to happen if the FCC denies the deal? They're back to square one, or will Byron Allen gets another chance to acquire Tegna?

I get that not everybody likes what Tegna is doing but I doubt Standard General is going to do a good job at "bringing journalism back" or "making the stations great again", I don't have inside info but I'm on the side of "this is a bad deal" and that Bryon Allen should of gotten these stations. It would of been much more of a story than another hedge fund taking TV stations down a notch. How is WLNE doing anyways?

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40 minutes ago, TVLurker said:

I get that not everybody likes what Tegna is doing but I doubt Standard General is going to do a good job at "bringing journalism back" or "making the stations great again", I don't have inside info but I'm on the side of "this is a bad deal" and that Bryon Allen should of gotten these stations. It would of been much more of a story than another hedge fund taking TV stations down a notch. How is WLNE doing anyways?

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4 hours ago, Breaking News said:

Say what you will about Scott Jones at FTVLive.com; he lays it all out about TEGNA/SG/Cox and it a good read.

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/2/23/the-tegna-deal

 

As well as this too-

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/2/23/the-inbox

 

This may answer some of your questions and where things are headed down the road.

That Harry Jessell can see how bad of a deal this is and Scott Jones lets his personal hatred for Dave Youngee cloud his inner judgment is stunning.

 

Jessell is pro-consolidation but he at least cares about the industry and its future. Meanwhile, Scott is stuck in a tunnel vision that newscasts from the early 2000s still work and that you shouldn’t even bother trying to reach younger audiences. News flash for Scott: it’s not 2002. It’s 2022.

 

Harry Jessell won my respect today, and I never thought I’d ever say those words.

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17 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

That Harry Jessell can see how bad of a deal this is and Scott Jones lets his personal hatred for Dave Youngee cloud his inner judgment is stunning.

 

Jessell is pro-consolidation but he at least cares about the industry and its future. Meanwhile, Scott is stuck in a tunnel vision that newscasts from the early 2000s still work and that you shouldn’t even bother trying to reach younger audiences. News flash for Scott: it’s not 2002. It’s 2022.

 

Harry Jessell won my respect today, and I never thought I’d ever say those words.

The thing to remember is there are not a lot of actual details, no FCC filing yet, so it is speculation on what they know based on past experiences.  We are only at the beginning of this story.  The view from these guys can't be more opposite.

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Just now, NowBergen said:

The thing to remember is there are not a lot of actual details, no FCC filing yet, so it is speculation on what they know based on past experiences.  We are only at the beginning of this story.  The view from these guys can't be more opposite.

Some stuff could not be more obvious, like the fact Soo Kim couldn’t afford Tegna in his own right so he needed another private equity vulture who already owns a significant station group just to pay the balance, plus the obvious footsy action with WFAA, KHOU and WFXT.

 

I’m capable of making inferences and can already say this deal is putrid with no benefit to anyone but Soo Kim’s lavish bank account and should be rejected. I don’t even need to see the filing.

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So there are a few new details today from Broadcasting + Cable. It appears that Apollo won't be involved beyond the Texas and Boston station transactions. From B&C:

 

"Originally, Standard General planned to acquire Tegna in partnership with Apollo Global Management. That deal proved too complicated and it was decided that Standard General go it alone partly to smooth the regulatory review process."

 

Apparently the money from the Texas cluster was the financial kickstart for Standard to go it alone. With Apollo not involved in ownership, that would seem to eliminate the ownership conflict many folks are speaking out against.

 

Unlike TEGNA's current structure, the new company will be private. 

 

Lastly, I originally found the whole WFXT transaction odd. But the NY Post (surprisingly) cleared it up for me.  It is all about retransmission money. Cox gets higher retransmission fees so by owning just one current Cox station, the new TEGNA can charge a higher retrans rate for the entire group. Plus, Cox unloads an underperforming station. So now that part makes sense. 

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34 minutes ago, carolinanews4 said:

Lastly, I originally found the whole WFXT transaction odd. But the NY Post (surprisingly) cleared it up for me.  It is all about retransmission money. Cox gets higher retransmission fees so by owning just one current Cox station, the new TEGNA can charge a higher retrans rate for the entire group. Plus, Cox unloads an underperforming station. So now that part makes sense. 


Retrans is where the money is at now. 

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