effseesee

The sale of KTVH from Intermountain West (Beartooth Communications Company) to Gray Television has closed. Gray has introduced a modified station logo. Looks like the Beartooth theme may be dead.

KRNV has now adopted the Sinclair graphics package.

 

Add KRCG in Jefferson City, MO to that list. KRCG is tops in Jeff City while KOMU dominates Columbia.

 

Not anymore.

 

Likely that the negotiations with these stations took place while the Allbritton deal was still pending.

 

I'd be shocked if the Allbritton stations aren't bundled together with an extended affiliation deal in the coming months...

 

The affiliation agreements for the Albritton stations run until 2017. Unless the new deal is a lot better than the current deal, I would expect them to keep the status quo.

According to FTVLIVE, NPG is taking over operations, except sales, for KYMA and KSWT from Blackhawk Broadcasting. This will give NPG control of every English language television network in the Yuma/El-Centro market.

Well' date=' I kind of suspected that KTVH would get sold before they sell its big station. But I wouldn't thought it would be Gray. I strongly don't think that they would acquire this Helena station for nothing. And I said this back last October that I would love to see KTVH clustered up with Bonten's NBC.

 

I dunno what's popping with Frontier, because they've been buying, but they've also been selling as well. And once they close on the KPVI/KXTF deal, would they resell it to another buyer, like they did with the Yellowstone properties?

 

So I wouldn't be shocked if they want to pursue going further into Montana. And should they follow that path, which avenues will they go, Bonten's NBC or Cordillera's CBS/Montana? If Gray picks the latter, Gray would have control of NBC, CBS & CW in little Helena. But since KXLH-LD is a LP station, it's not affected by the ownership limits.

They have to have another deal lined up. You can't make any money with just Helena and an LP in Great Falls.

And you know what that means, HD news and new graphics are probably on the way soon...

Gray built a new set for KCWY and went HD this week. No new graphics yet.

New M&A: Bob Prather's Heartland Media is buying Chambers Communications's Oregon stations (KEZI Eugene, KDRV Medford + KDKF Klamath Falls) for $30 million. Chambers cites issues with network economies of scale and increased costs to ABC.

They've had a couple of missteps in recent times. They built a studio building in Eugene, designed to attract film and television production, that never lived up to expectations. Then there was the KOHD experiment, which didn't pan out either.

 

News out of the world of public broadcasting:

 

The future of PBS member KMBH in the Rio Grande Valley market is cloudy as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville wants out. Apparently the station can be converted into a commercial license?

 

It has always been a commercial station, but it has been used for non-commerical purposes. The only noncommercial station in the market is KLUJ.

So Gray will have CBS and NBC in Panama City and Dothan, Nexstar will have ABC in Panama City and Dothan and Raycom will have Fox in Panama City and Dothan.

I would hazard a guess that Nexstar (through Mission) has made an inquiry to Raycom about their Fox stations.

 

FCC greenlights KYMA's sale today. Will the KSWT app follow?

 

An Informal Objection has been filed against the sale of KSWT. Thomas Abraham, through his company Abraham Telecasting, wants it on the record that he submitted an offer on October 28 to buy KSWT for $1.125 million. Abraham purchased KVVV-LD, out of bankruptcy from Pappas, earlier this year and is currently multicasting religoius programming.

Seems he's a little late to the party since he made his offer 3 months after Pappas and Blackhawk entered in a binding agreement to sell.

New M&A Tonight!!!!

 

 

Let's see if Vision Alaska will make some noise again on this deal. Could Fairbanks be their next target?

Going to be tough. KFXF (Fox), K13XD (CBS) and KTVF (NBC) are all operating under the same roof.

 

Here's KOTA's Assignment Of License app to Schurz through it's existing subsidiary New Rushmore Radio, Inc., the same licensee as its radio properties. Schurz is paying the Duhamels $10M.

 

A lot less than the $27 million Schurz offered Duhamel for the stations in 1996.

 

ABC has signed an affiliation agreement with Gray to make KGNS-DT2 the ABC affiliate for Laredo, TX beginning in February 2014. No word yet on what happens to The CW, which currently occupies KGNS-DT2.

 

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/71776/gray-to-air-abc-on-kgns-subchannel

 

Anyone taking bets on when Excalibur buys up KVTV and moves it into KGNS?

 

Same with KCWY and KGWN (the other big story is that both stations are currently run separate but this purchase will bring both of them under one umbrella). Right now, Casper and Cheyenne are a one horse town with KTWO basically dominating both markets.

 

Hopefully Grey will invest in these two as they get integrated and finally bring some much needed competition in Wyoming.

 

I don't know where you got your info, but KGWN has dominated Cheyenne forever and KCWY passed KTWO several years ago.

Even though the previous sale hasn't closed, TVNewscheck is reporting that Yellowstone Television is selling KGNS, KCWY and KGWN, along with associated translators, to Gray.

NEW M&A Tonight!!!!

 

B&C states that Duhamel will sell its family-owned station KOTA in Rapid City, SD to South Bend-based Schurz Communications.

 

KOTA has been owned Duhamel family since its inception in 1955. KOTA also operates three satellite stations where they coin their coverage area "KOTA Territory", KDUH in Scottsbluff, NE, KHSD in Lead, SD and KSGW in Sheridan, WY.

Interesting. For those of you who don't know, Schurz had a deal to buy the Duhamel stations in 1998, when the Duhamels walked away from the deal. Schurz sued Duhamel to enforce the deal, but lost.

I guess everyone has kissed and made up.

 

The first Monday since the reopening of FCC site and we have a NEW M&A Tonight!!!

 

Anyone thought that Bob Prather was going sit out after he left leading Gray Television, you have another thing coming. Hell, I didn't see this coming.

 

Through the paperwork, Prather through his firm Heartland Media, LLC, is buying Smith Media's last station, Utica's WKTV for $16M. The APA was made out on October 1st.

 

I knew Boston Ventures weren't going to hold that sole station for long. And I did state that Gray should've gotten it. But I never thought a former Gray leader would even come close to acquiring a station after he left from a company that had a massive chain of stations. Now I'm not sure if he's going to even try to acquire more stations, as it's getting even harder to form a new group, while many groups that are already here are trying to merge with each other. It's going to be a very hard sell.

 

Paying $16 million for a station in Utica, NY is a good example of why he's no longer in charge at Gray.

 

Nobody wants WLNE because it is a poor-performing station in that market. WJAR is the ten-ton gorilla in that market because they signed on first. Therefore most have never switched away. WPRI signed on second so they're second place. WLNE signed on last so they've always been last place.

 

 

it also didn't help WLNE that it operated from New Beford, MA. Even though it was a VHF station, people in Providence had trouble picking up WLNE because it had to operate at reduced power to protect WCSH in Portland and WRGB in Albany.

 

The Binghamton situation should be a major concern. Nexstar may not be able to buy Granite now as it develops a chokehold on Binghamton television around WBNG (which is a towering market leader).

 

 

WBNG has had a chokehold on Binghamton television since the beginning of television. Having one company own all three full power sticks in town wouldn't make one bit of difference.

NBC in Binghamton is a LP. Thus Nexstar can keep WIVT/WBGH and Misson would get WBNG and the whole thing will operate from the WBNG building.

That sure changes things in the speculation...maybe a sign that NPG is headed for the market, while Gray may be a buyer after all (they were heavily rumored to be for sale)? Although one station could be a blip, it could start a trend...

 

A shell for one station rarely happens unless it is clear that they are trying to start something...

I think it has more to do with the market, than anything else. GJ is market 185 and Hoak already runs CBS and FOX in town. Given the limited amount of ad revenue, it wasn't if KKCO and KJCT would pair up, it was when. It's getting really hard to have 3 unique shops in these markets any more.

 

Follow-Up Time. And it looks like Brady didn't want to get KYMA for nothing.

 

It appears that he will acquire KSWT from Pappas for $900K. And will use the 'failed station waiver' card to get it.

 

If this sticks, it would be the third time a true Big-3 network duopoly has formed, after Gannett's WTLV/WJXX Jacksonville & Nexstar's KSEE/KGPE Fresno.

 

It was only a matter of time before one of the three shops in town was swallowed up by another. Given the state of the KSWT studio building, I would assume KSWT will move into the KYMA building once this is done.