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Byron Allen is too badly overleveraged and has acquired a bad reputation for talking up deal after deal and failing to actually make them. He is not a credible candidate for anything.

Thank you for saying that. I don't know if it's a bug or a feature about the TV fandom in the present day but it has also irritated the moderators over there considerably.

Bryon Allen may be a joke but at least his TV stations haven't gone to crap, I believe he'll do something eventually.

Here's some more information as to which cities are on the selling block. https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/cnbc-sinclair-considering-selling-some-broadcast-stations

Are you "DarrenVision" from Radio Discussions? (The avatars are the same.) If so, that would explain your eagerness to see more M&As without taking reality into account. Respectfully, don't bring any of that here.

I swear it was a miracle sent from God that Sinclair was pretty much required to build-out a new studio for WVTV/WCGV after their 2010 flood; I really do think they were trying to stay in the old studios and cheap out before it became clear it was not going to work. And I do remember by the time KSMO was sold it was pretty much running on fumes and its WB affiliation was the only thing keeping it from dying completely.

Sinclair is what would have happened had a miserly 1980s-era owner like TVX Broadcast Group or Media Central somehow existed into the present day.

No no. They are going to crap too: https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2024/5/1/more-on-the-allen-media-massacre https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2024/4/29/allen-media-swings-the-ax https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2024/5/7/no-more-401k

Some stations (actually many stations) air morning news through 11am so I could see them only airing an hour of it.

KSMO-TV during the WB/Sinclair days deserved better. –From an Kansas Citian.

Hearst almost never aquires stations besides WBBH and WZVN in Fort Myers–Naples, Florida because then-owners wanted to sell the stations before someone turns 100.

I assume because Sinclair wasn't able to get an duopoly in Sacramento. Also, it wasn't and still isn't able to defeat KCRA in the ratings.

Okay, that's the comment of the year by this point. And it's something agreeable. Sinclair be trying to cut costs and you get Kansas City which got lucky to be removed from the Sinclair curse over in 2005. You should be lucky that you don't live in a Sinclair Broadcast Group Market, because well... they almost bankrupted KSMO-TV before they sold them off to the then-owners of KCTV5, the Meredith Corporation.

No one has lauded Sinclair for their shrewd operations.

Thank you for this update. I would have had no idea this was happening and definitely would have been surprised by it tomorrow.

Is Weather Unfiltered a new show or just a rebranding of Weather Underground? Considering the show was created when TWC and the Weather Underground website were under the same ownership, it sounds more like a brand licensing agreement to use the WU name for the show lapsed (separate from TWC’s existing content agreement with The Weather Company) and they rebranded the show accordingly. It always struck me as odd that AMHQ had been extended to the noon ET slot during severe weather situations, rather than extend WU one hour early, given AMHQ’s (as its full and abbreviated names indicate) intended as a morning show. (Granted, it’s still morning in the rest of the country while it’s noon in the Eastern Time Zone, but up until now, dating back to at least the 1995 creation of WeatherScope (although there was no daypart-based titling for that program from 1996 until the relaunch of its forecast shows under the Weather Center brand in 1997), noon ET was usually the delineation between TWC’s morning and afternoon schedules.) And, at least, the network added an hour of non-documentary programming on weekends, even if it’s not technically a weather forecast program.

Perhaps this "cash grab" Sinclair is trying to accomplish is Chris Ripley's last chance before the board sends him packing. His reign has been a disaster. Starting in 2017 when they were chasing Tribune and bungled that deal to foolishly pass off WGN's new owners as an "unrelated entity", even the Trump-friendly FCC chair sent the deal for review. Tribune backed out, sued Sinclair, and ended up merging with Nexstar to make them the super-broadcaster Sinclair could have been while the UHF discount window was open. Then, they thought they won the lottery when they first got the Cubs away from WGN, and later picked up the former FOX RSNs, only to see those devolve into bankruptcy and drive the company even further into peril, as they were saddled with baggage from paying off lawsuits and consent decrees from their corporate incompetence. Then came the layoffs and shutdowns of news operations across the country. And to think they're only now considering selling off their stations to make a buck? They should have never bought half of them to begin with. You thought the RSN's were worthless. After the stripping and cost-cutting Sinclair's done to them, there's no sane buyer that would take some of these on....

One option in the late nights is to simulcast local coverage, although that requires getting rights to such.

TWC is changing up its schedule. AMHQ has been extended an hour weekdays to 1pm EDT replacing Pattrn. Pattrn has been moved to weekends at 1pm EDT following Weekend Recharge. Still hosted by Stephanie Abrams and Jordan Steele. It was the same episode on Saturday and Sunday. Weather Underground is no more with a new show called Weather Unfiltered replacing it from 1pm-5pm EDT ending its 9 year run. The new show will still have Mike Bettes, Alex WIlson and Dr. Rick Knabb as hosts. They were teasing a new look and feel. I'm guessing just new show graphics and not a company wide graphics change which they've had for over 10 years now. Pattrn makes sense to move to weekends as it constantly gets preempted due to severe weather coverage. This may have also been impacted by the recent layoffs. Weather Underground has been one of my favorite shows. I think the new show is going to lean into Mike, Alex, and Dr. Rick Knabb's quirkiness, games, etc. more. I've always liked and appreciated that. It made their show fun than the a just straight forward here's the weather show.

I have to wonder if any of the people wish speculating about future owners for stations that may or may not be for sale have set foot in a TV station as an employee or have any glimpse of the reality of the economics of local TV in 2024. I'm three years removed from TV employment, and it was bleak then. Friends left in the business (who are all looking to get out) say it has only worsened. I am cheering for the unlikely fairy-tale outcome of new financial success for the local TV business, but that won't happen with more of the same that got us to where we are today.

Serious question: why in the wide wide world of sports would any of those groups want basketcase stations that need a massive amount of investment just in order to be remotely competitive in a declining industry? Plus Apollo Global Management isn't buying anything and Byron Allen is too badly overleveraged. With all due respect, what makes anyone think Apollo is going to have the soulless husk of Cox Media Group buy anything or that Byron is going to do anything but make vacant empty promises he can't deliver?

Sony and Apollo have indicated that they plan to only keep Paramount Studios and sell off CBS (including CBS News & owned stations), Paramount + and cable stations. That avoids any Cox conflicts. Shari Redstone has said she was against selling to break the company up but the cash may be too good an offer to turn down.

It's clear the industry has seen better days. And I do agree that these stations may end up in the private equity / crappy owner dumpster pile unless there is a suitable duopoly partner in a market that can take one or more stations on without major investment. There may be a white knight somewhere that takes on a station or two....perhaps a local investor or a college/university that wants to make something out of a Sinclair fixer-upper. We haven't gotten to the point where groups are so insolvent they have to shut down stations and fire sale them off. But it could be coming. At least Sinclair is being proactive (at least in a financial way). The only way the FCC is going to change things is if things get so terrible, it takes anyone with a check that clears to run a station if there's no one else who can afford to do so.

No. Daystar is not going to pull an KOCE and have too deal with the FCC criticizing them for.

Yeah no Scripps isn’t modernizing news. Scripps cut people that were making the most money in the newsroom that aren’t managers (the anchors). Then sat down with some people that still watch news and ask was the biggest complaint about news and it was that they never report about news in their small town. The neighbor reporter concept is a good idea for communities that get underreported, KABC has a few communities reporters in the LA neighborhoods that maybe get on the air 2-3 times week and post other stories online but KABC also has a team of general assignment reporters and beat reporters. At some Scripps stations every reporter is a neighborhood reporter and the top 2 or 3 stories could be, smithtowns grand opening of Olive Garden happen today and Greg Johnson of Lilly village is 8th grade state spelling bee champ. Scripps is getting rid of any veteran they can, these people were teachers to the new hires at most scripp stations, most are coming straight out of college. This does delay the shutting down of newsrooms though which is good.

Exactly. I doubt Sinclair will sell whichever stations they divest one by one to multiple owners. The level of regulatory filings and lawyers fees would be significant - especially for an on the cheap broadcaster whose sports subsidiary is bleeding cash. It will be as one group, probably effected as a spinoff or similar tactic to a private equity firm (most current broadcasters would either be over the limit or can't afford the price). As to which stations, we should probably hold back speculation because the truth is every single person on this forum that has a Sinclair station in their market or one they watch often, would want that station sold. At some point, Sinclair may provide clarity on the criteria for disposal (there were a few hints in the report - like stand alone stations where there is no duopoly or nearby Sinclair station - islands in Sinclair's footprint) but until then, it is all speculative.

The Sun-Times ran a story about this yesterday. If I’m understanding correctly, Standard will invest (in the RSN) and help with distribution while Stadium will provide the content (and handle other operational matters). That said, it ‘appears’ that Stadium will be converted into the aforementioned RSN that will air White Sox, Bulls & Blackhawk games. At least that’s how it sounds…

... Here's my two cents on the matter 1) I know that Coastal Television is like the worst owner unless it's for, NewsNet programming outta Cadillac, Michigan (for example, KTWO, and the Alaska ABC (KATN, KJUD, KYUR, and KTBY) stations.) 2) I don't fully understand the hate against INSP. Like, okay, it was created from the remains of the PTL Network, and didn't have any Broadcasting station experience until 2022, but what did they somehow do to get hated upon? 3) Yea, some mega-chains are just too big or already in the markets (Example, Sinclair-Owned WJLA and Tegna-Owned WUSA in Washington DC whixh are the only affiliates because the other big four affiliates are owned by the network (NBC-owned WRC and Fox-owned WTTG)) 4) The only reason why Hearst even acquired WBBH and WZVN, (No, not WSVN, the one you legitimately revamped on Wikipedia) is because the Waterman family wanted to sell the stations before one of the family members turned 100. 5) Well, Graham, and Legitimately the networks isn't selling/buying any stations, and why would they do so? I mean, St. Louis once had 2, KTVI from 1997-2008 and KMOV from 1950s-1987 (during the CBS ownership, Channel 4 was called KMOX-TV) (Also, Paramount and CBS is not facing an Ted Turner moment again and are going to stop Byron from owning CBS, whatever the cost.) 6) Retransmission fees don't kinda have anything to make actual other than for revenue? Because cord-cutting, ATSC3.0, anything of those things, Hello??? 7) The FCC is probably focused on WPIX and stopping Robo-calls now than on UHF Discounts (which they did on Robo-calls, thank God they did.)

I know this is not Speculatron though...and we don't know a lot of the details. This may all just fall through as well.

Apparently stations will have the option of carrying it overnight or of carrying just an hour of the show

If they were to sell a station in a smaller market, it would be WFXL, a FOX afilliate in Albany, Georgia. And it got me to thinking, if Gray was to acquire WFXL from Sinclair, they need to keep the FOX affiliation and restart a news operation with a 10pm newscast produced by WALB, the NBC station, to start out with. As for a major market scenario, I predict that a company such as Gray or Nexstar would acquire the Seattle ABC (KOMO) and CW (KUNS) affiliates. As for what is going to happen, this will get interesting as time progresses and I look forward to finding out who will acquire those stations.

we've come to a point where Scripps isn't much better.

Time to be realistic. Don't waste your energy speculating which existing broadcasters with cap space could buy these stations. It's not happening. These station sales will be the broadcasting industry equivalent of selling bundled mortgages or medical debt. Sinclair needs cash. The companies that will purchase these assets will be private equity investors who can drain these stations dry without remorse and then hold on to them until there is another opportunity to sell the spectrum these stations broadcast on back to the federal government.

It does mention it would be a 2 hr extension of the current show which will continue to air on NFL Network. So the earliest it could run on the affiliates is 10am-12noon, so it’s not out of the question for it to be on after Good Day.

Congress would have to change the rules to let Nexstar into more markets. That seems to be a low priority right now.

I wonder if Fox Weather is also looking at possibly acquiring Mike Seidel and others laid off at TWC? They might be seeing that option open up.

ABC was interested, but Allbritton wasn't interested in making multiple deals. That said, a decade later, I don't think Disney would be interested, for modern reasons. I also doubt Sinclair would be willing to part with their largest market.

I agree. I love seeing Stephen and Marissa together.

Before this thread gets out of hand, there is probably no chance of ABC swooping in to buy WJLA. If they didn't buy the station when Albritton put itself up for sale years ago, what makes anyone think they would even do so now? And I seriously doubt Fox would want to make WZTV & WUXP into O&Os themselves.

Now that was unexpected news. I think they realize they are boxed out based on their previous behavior. I think the standalone weaker stations (with no news operation) might be possible duopoly bait for someone else in those markets.

Stephen Morgan and Marissa Torres make a great team on “Weather Command”…. Still no sign or word about Amy Freeze, but hope this team sticks together. If Amy returns it would be great to see her paired with Jason Fraser in the afternoons…

With all the Caitlin Clark buzz, WTHR and stations in 11 other markets (including many non-Tegna stations) will carry 17 Indiana Fever games: https://www.tegna.com/tegna-and-indiana-fever-expand-broadcast-distribution-of-the-fevers-exciting-upcoming-season-in-11-additional-markets/

They could also launch their own cable-only station with the Plus feed and have someone handle advertising.

Sometimes I wonder what some hypothetical color combinations would be like for GrayOne. For example, if Gray owned a station in Pittsburgh (would require either CBS to walk away from its non-top 10 O&O's, or a Cox and Hearst deal), the yellow and black would look really good I think. I also think some purple is needed for WVUE when it goes to the package.

Wow, looks like even for an SPC High Risk day and at least 7 active tornado warnings. TWC isn't going to do full overnight coverage. Todd Borek came in and did coverage from like 1am-1:30am ET, but right now, they're back to long-form. Their competitors at Fox Weather are no better. They dropped live coverage at 12am ET. They're just running automated weather maps ever since. Guess the days of overnight tornado coverage are over, across the board. Only hurricanes will keep the networks up all night from now on.

The MLB Sunday morning package could move to Roku.

From experience living in the south, and the dominance of the SEC, this could certainly hurt viewership on Saturdays. As SEC college football is king in the south. Also, there is a thin possibility that it could help in markets like Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte and Nashville due to the amount of people that are transplants from historical BIG10 territory (Atlanta has a lot from rust belt, Charlotte and Nashville is more from across the country).

I feel CBS getting the rights to Big Ten football will help its O&O in Detroit, WWJ, Michigan football is a huge ratings draw and you know CBS will show Michigan as much as possible.

My theory for the affiliates is that their struggles stem from the '94 realignments. They lost some stronger affiliates, left to pick up weaker ones. Look at ATL, CBS lost WAGA 5 to Fox, so they had to settle for WGNX 46, a weaker station with a dial number up in the boondocks. For the owned and operated stations I'll say again...CBS O&O newscasts have a very generic, corporate, "Spectrum News" like feel, that isn't always authentic to the markets they're in. Big example, CBS' defunct "Nowcasts". WUPA's version, produced in NYC, felt so out of place in a country/soulful/hip hop city like Atlanta. WCBS' Mary Calvi and Chris Wragge could do one of those nowcasts because they don't add any extra personality to make it feel like you're watching a New York morning show. This in contrast to the loud-brash-Brooklyn Rosanna Scotto on GDNY or the Jamaican Dancehall or Street Soldiers segments covered on WNYW. Even though all o&o station groups duplicate their formats across markets, ABC, NBC, and especially FOX & CW stations are better at adding local touches.