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Could Morgan Murphy even afford to buy Hearst Television? Does Graham even want to own that many stations? Sinclair and Nexstar should have been stopped in their tracks years ago. We've been sounding the alarm about them for years and by the time anybody but us noticed it was too late.

These greenlit deals (WTVA, WLFI, WTHI) are not in conflict with other stations in their markets, so they were able to close with no issues from the FCC and DOJ. Others, like WSIL, WAAY and WCOV conflict with existing stations, and could cause issues with market share as well.

As bizarre that it is for Nexstar/Tegna to be approved and yet Allen still waiting to sell the remaining "for sale" stations to Gray, I'm not complaining about that. And while Nexstar would likely merge behind the scenes and keep "visually" separate newscasts, the moment Gray gets its hands on WAAY it's over for that station. They'd merge the news with WAFF without thinking twice about it.

I'd rather see Hearst sell to Gray. Or Graham. Or Morgan Murphy. Or anyone besides Sinclair or Nexstar.

I hope the state of Illinois is taking serious notes right now since this involves WSIL.

Well, except for the two episodes of Comics Unleashed that will continue to air on WLFI and WTHI every weeknight. Worth it.

Wouldn't this mean that they would have to transfer the Tegna stations to a trust?

Nexstar should sell some more TV station from the TEGNA merger I'm fine with them buying WZZM and for a sole ABC station in West Michigan which should've happen 35 years ago just look it up on the wiki pages for more of that history, as I wrote about it in the earlier in the thread. Should sell Charlotte, Cleveland, C-Bus etc. As for local TV ownership that ship has sailed seem like even in the early days of TV that those that got the TV stations up and running decided to cash out to the highest bidder. Not going to ever see local TV being owned by a local owner other than the few that are still in it maybe even they will cash out at some point.

Posted today: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-281A1.pdf

Docket says Nexstar notified the court on 3/20 they'll file opposition. Judge gave them 3/24 to respond, and California et.al. 3/26 to respond, if they want to Alexander Okuliar will be lead attorney for Nexstar. Big antitrust lawyer, former DOJ antitrust lawyer and deputy AG, brought in US vs Google for the feds, worked with Microsoft on GitHub aquisition. Case went to Chief District Judge Troy L. Nunley - Obama appointee; generally "rigid" (could go both ways); reads more like he would be concurring with a Scalia/Thomas textual reading than go looking for "elephants hidden in statutes"; "very demanding about evidence of harm" - probably not good for California et. al., they will have to convince him of imminent and irreversible harm to the Sacramento market. so March 27 through next week, for arguments and ruling on the TRO. - TRO denied = Nexstar is free to absorb Tegna; a later trial (if it gets that far) will decide either way; possible 9th circuit appeal who "tend to be flexible in antitrust issues" - might grant a stay while reviewing the denial - TRO denied but hold separate order = judge thinks there's some merit in the argument California et. al. made; not going to shake Nexstar up - TRO granted - merger is frozen; injunction hearing etc looks like a pivot by Okuliar, Nexstar's counsel. The judge in the case allegedly has preference for maintaining status quo, and the "midnight closing" uncle Perry did could have left the judge thinking Nexstar were trying to tie his hands up, so they're leaking to the press and massaging the gears

Hearst should buy Morgan Murphy, not the other way around. However, I know that won't happen as Hearst is strategic as to what, where, and when to buy.

It shut down OTA in 2024. It’s purely a streaming operation now.

Good questions. Morgan Murphy's more of a small-market company; the largest market they're in, I think, is Madison, WI. Graham, meanwhile, hasn't shown even a hint of interest in buying any stations since it acquired WCWJ and WSLS almost exactly a decade ago. Goooooooood.

Probably for the best until all of the legal stuff is settled, though it's only a matter of when (not if) they are allowed to fully absorb the former TEGNA stations into their fold.

Yes. All on one website. 9News.com will redirect to KDVR.com. Unified branding and one slogan too. The stations will all look and feel the same. WTHR will be with Mission. At this point, I think Hearst will either be one of the last mid-size groups standing or will exit the business entirely selling to Sinclair.

A possible outcome could be that the former Tegna stations be separated into a separate holding company and if any consolidation has taken place, it would be up to Nexstar to restore these stations to operational independence. If companies like AT&T can be broken up, so should Nexstar when their market share has gotten too big.

Good faith divestures to another broadcaster that operates network-affiliated stations are a thing of the past. Nexstar is a retransmission revenue company with advertising sales as a side hustle. They want every penny of restransmission cash from 3-4 channels per market, and a consolidated operation with the lowest possible cost. The two year timeline gives time for rules to be rewritten to avoid these stations being divested, or strictly selling the license/transmitter only to a godcaster/spectrum squatter, while keeping the affiliation and programming for a subchannel of a retained station. Or in an absolute worst case (for Nexstar) scenario, Mission gets six additional stations with network affiliations.

Something I'm wondering about.... Now that there are a bunch of duopolies/etc in many markets... Is Nexstar going to merge websites?? i.e. In Indy, they merged WXIN & WTTG into Fox 59's domain... Would it be easier (and maybe somewhat cost effective) to merge websites?? Also I was thinking... If Nexstar doesn't want/wishes to sell WTHR... I'm wondering if it would be wise if Hearst would grab WTHR?? It would kinda make sense.. They would have a nice regional network of stations in IN, OH, KY

This. When you stop to read how Congress went about "setting" the cap, it becomes as clear as mud. This will end up in front of SCOTUS, and they'll go "we have to assume that 'national audience reach' assumed everyone watched broadcast television, but now less than 25% of the population watches broadcast television. There's no way for any owner to reach 39% of the population, because that many people don't watch." It won't matter if people are watching on streaming services or cable, because those aren't regulated by the FCC.

Univision shuting down the first “las noticias” 15 years ago then WLII getting sold was the beginning of the end of Univision on that station

As much as I don't want to deflate any hope in people, the chances are near zero that any court would rule the entire transaction void ab initio and require Nexstar to re-launch Tegna with all its stations. Technically speaking, the transaction itself is not unlawful. What makes this questionable at best is the entire company being bought without immediate and absolute divestures. If the courts bother growing a spine, the best case scenario would be that the courts rule that Nexstar must divest in markets that have conflicts (Knoxville, Charlotte, San Diego, as well as in addition to the markets Nexstar nominally pledged to). Tegna as a company is not coming back. It's in the history books. One can only hope that a suitable buyer would step forward in that scenario to buy the conflicting stations.

They will do what they did with WPIX in New York after they bought Tribune stations. They waited as long as they could hoping ownership limits would be eliminated, then sold it to a third party with an immediate right to buy it back, waited a year, then bought it under the Mission side car name. Not the most honest business practice but typical of Nexstar deals. They also look past the news ratings for other revenue. When their predecessor LIN merged with Media General they chose not to retain the top rated news station (NBC) and sold it to Sinclair. They kept the CBS/FOX duopoly - because of football ad revenue.

WCNC did at 6pm. I didn’t capture the last Tegna end tag for WCNC either but will try to on demand. I guess CW will end up on WATL after all (and KONG in Seattle).

Nexstar divesting WAVY here in Portsmouth (Norfolk) VA? That seems very odd, considering WAVY has been the market's news leader for decades at this point. I kinda wonder what Nexstar sees in WVEC that they don't in WAVY.

So I just tuned in, and here's the logo Also, I didn't realize Logan Byrnes was out in the evening there. Phil Blauer was moved over in his place.

KUSA Just showed the Nexstar Copyright information at the end of 9NEWS@3, it has begun. The last Tegna copyright aired at Noon... And unfortunately I didn't capture it..

1) Mizzou is a non-profit university, so they don't need to worry as much about raking in the cash and meeting quotas to keep the stocks up. The joys of being a land-grant research institution! 2) That station is part of why the Missouri School of Journalism is one of the top journalism programs out there, and a huge draw for prospective students by getting to train in an actual newsroom (not discounting campus journalism programs- Mizzou carved out their niche by having KOMU). 3) Who says they wouldn't sell if the right offer came along?

The affiliation agreement with is with the broadcaster, not the station. There generally aren't contractual provisions that would enable networks to due such things, as several recent Big 4 moves to station subchannels have proven.

Those are the unknowns. There really are 3 scenarios: let it stand (as with DOJ/FCC under Trump), force sale of conflicts, or void the sale altogether (which creates a free-for-all as the stations become homeless).

Nexstar basically states they are expecting the cap to be gone before they have to divest the handful of stations they committed to.

Officially, they've issued a waiver.

So a few divestitures I could see Paramount-Skydance, FOX, Hearst and a few other jumping into buy some spun off stations.

American Telephone & Telegraph

KUSA is reporting the deal is Done! Tegna Media is no more and is now a division of Nexstar, although there are court challenges by some AGs. The Tegna website as of 5:13PM MDT now redirects to Nexstar's website.

I wonder if KXLY or KHQ will pick him up once the non-compete is done?

Chief Meteorologist Jeremy Lagoo has abruptly, and with no advance notice to the viewers, left KREM — and based on his tearful farewell, it doesn’t appear he did so willingly: There’s a rumor on local Reddit, unconfirmed, that he was fired because he mentioned during one of his forecasts that climate change is impacting the weather locally. Could this move have been made by KREM to appease the incoming right-wing leadership at Nexstar? Complicating matters is that Lagoo is engaged to KREM morning anchor Nicole Hernandez. His Facebook post announcing his departure reads: Never stop fighting for what is right. I loved my job. My career was a dream. I am heartbroken. If you watched it live, the tears were real. The pain is real. For a long time, I was a vagabond. I didn’t belong. Somewhere along the way, sharing my love of weather not only got me paid, but gave me purpose. I cannot express my gratitude for you accepting me and trusting me. It means the world to me. Thank you. I will be staying in Spokane. The Inland Northwest is my home. The outdoors drew me in, the people kept me. My love for weather will never fade. I will always love talking the forecast or even some weird clouds you saw last week. Nicole and I will be getting married at the end of May. I feel blessed to have found my soulmate. I promise to never take that for granted and to cherish every moment together. I will always care about my community and will work to make it better. For everyone. It’s not goodbye. It’s see you around. Be good, Jeremy

Was up in Fargo over the weekend and noticed that while some companies and stations are shedding their affiliation during local newscasts, KVRR actually went back to adding the Fox logo to theirs after a decade of just the calls. Outside of news and online/socials it's still just KVRR- but nevertheless thought it was an interesting move.

Tamron Hall renewed for eighth season

Haha the Tony era is nearly over. They’re starting the rapid set changes already which is where they always begin. And while I don’t think CBS is necessarily trying to compete with NBC or ABC for viewership anymore, headlines like this can’t be going over well:

they must really be aiming to be the least successful revision of the CBS Evening News if they're back at Studio 47.

Another change in the CBS Evening News setting. They've stopped using the newsroom as a backdrop for the news broadcast. The close-up shots don't reveal much of the new graphics on the Studio 47 screen.

Scripps' talk about "paying down debt" in selling WFTX and WRTV is clearly just propaganda. Anyone can see that at this point. And while we're at it, maybe someone should convince Scripps to change its slogan to be "Our light went out and can't find our own way". Would be pretty accurate for a company that was once the gold standard for local TV.

Another Jacksonville giant is gone. Former longtime WJXT anchor and reporter Rob Sweeting has passed away. He spent 30 years with the station (1985-2015), the longest stop of his career. He was 73.