dman748

17 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

Standard General now has 12% interest in Tegna.

My biggest takeaway is this quote from Soo Kim 

Quote

“We are fully committed to Tegna, and we are not going anywhere,” said Soo Kim, founding partner of Standard General L.P.

“This increase in our position underscores our conviction that the company’s intrinsic value is much higher than its market price, but also our belief that Tegna will not achieve its full potential without an upgraded board. Our exceptional nominees have the needed experience and expertise to implement changes to Tegna’s business, operations, capital allocation and strategy to transform the company into the best-in-class operator it should be.”

“Our additional investment boosts our economic and financial exposure to the company’s equity and signals our steadfast commitment to driving change at Tegna for the benefit of all shareholders. Recently, Tegna has attempted to mislead shareholders and has falsely implied that by reducing the number of physical shares we own, that we reduced our economic interest in the company. In fact, Standard General has actually recently INCREASED its investment by more than 20%.”

This is referring to a claim that Tegna made on Thursday that Kim selling 5 million shares "troubling" and tried to make it as if Kim was selling his stock in Tegna, obviously as it's been the case for the last several weeks and even a couple of months it's blown up in the faces of Tegna's executives.

I think Kim is preparing for a takeover of Tegna because there's no way Kim would've increased his stake in Tegna if he wasn't actually preparing to takeover Tegna.

I also anticipate Kim increasing his stake in Tegna in the coming weeks leading up to the all important shareholder meeting.

Overall, Tegna is CLEARLY under pressure from Kim and they can't continue citing COVID-19 as a reason to not doing something something simple as selling the company

4 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

Better yet, just wait for things to get better and see if better offers come.

I agree it probably should happen but the issue I simply can't get past is Soo Kim. He's not going to wait until things get better for something to happen, afterall he didn't wait until the economy to get better when he bought into Young Broadcasting (which at that time they were bankrupt) 

Obviously Tegna isn't bankrupt here but it has severely underperformed against its peers and no matter what's going on with COVID-19 Kim's going to get what he wants.

If I were in his shoes I would agree and wait until things got better when the better offers would come, unfortunately I'm not.

On 3/31/2020 at 6:59 PM, Yankees4life said:

I hope and pray that Kim takes over. Tegna NEEDS a shakeup

I really think that April 30th (that's when the annual shareholder meeting will take place) we'll really find out whether Tegna can behave and engage in talks or keep the same tired old rhetoric they've been saying for a long time and risk being taken over.

Overall I think the more the 2 trade blows at each other the more I think at some point something is going to have to give. Right now Tegna has no plan on how to stop Kim's advances (e.g. Poison Pill, they're using the Gold card and not the Green Card which they should be using. Right now I don't see the behavior's of either Tegna or Kim changing for at least the next several weeks.

Follow-up #3:

Reuters has came out with this article and here's additional comments by Soo Kim

Quote

“The two remaining bidders for Tegna own other broadcasting assets, so there could be various synergies. Given that we don’t know what the synergies are, you have to give people a chance to figure them out,” Standard General founding partner Soohyung Kim said in an interview.

“If you create arbitrary barriers, you have the result we saw on Sunday. This is a question of good faith and credibility on the part of Tegna,” Kim added.

I think right now, Tegna has at least 29 days to figure this out.

Open up to bidders WITHOUT any restraints or hesitations, you can get a deal done with either Allen or Najafi/TBN

Continue resisting calls and coming out with statements like we saw Sunday, and they'll face a takeover.

Those are 2 very clear choices, no ifs ands or buts about it.

On 3/30/2020 at 1:15 PM, oknewsguy said:

Follow-up:

 

In the latest edition of As the Proxy Fight Turns, Soo Kim (as expected) commented on Tegna's announcement from yesterday and to no one's surprise it's very provacative. Here's the statement:

So COVID-19 has not stopped Soo Kim from pursuing a takeover of Tegna and I actually can't blame Kim for that one bit.

 

Another Standard-Tegna update, former Tribune executive Larry Wert has dropped out of the running for a spot on Tegna's board and no it's not because of COVID-19 but because of a clause within his contract that prevents Wert from joining another company for at least a year (which was included in Wert's contract when he was running Tribune)

2nd Follow-Up:

This Proxy Fight is going to get more and more interesting as we get closer to that April 30th shareholder meeting.

So today, Soo Kim came out with a definitive proxy fight to Tegna's shareholders citing the lack of performance and everything else that Kim has refrenced to in the past.

Tegna as usual continues to defend the same thing they've been defending  all while yesterday Tegna's stocks fell down nearly 20% and at one point during the trading session, Tegna was trading under $10 a share. I don't think that COVID-19 is the sole reason for Tegna's sudden collapse on the stock market a lot of it has to do with the fact that people are showing a no confidence vote to Dave Lougee and with today they closed just shy of $11 after Soo Kim's responses to Tegna shareholders.

So putting two and two together I think whenever Lougee or even Tegna itself talks it sends their stocks down and when Kim talks they go up

And finally, Kim also launched the Tomorrow's Tegna website https://tomorrowstegna.com/

Lot's to digest but that is the latest edition of As the Proxy Fight Turns

On 3/29/2020 at 5:35 PM, oknewsguy said:

So Tegna has finally responded to Soo Kim's request to talk about the bid's and apparently 2 of the parties (one of them presumably Apollo the other being Gray) has dropped out of the running for Tegna due to COVID-19 concerns https://www.tegna.com/tegna-reports-on-acquisition-approaches/

 

So that leaves the Najafi/TBN and Byron Allen unless Soo Kim comes in to takeover.

Follow-up #1:

In the latest edition of As the Proxy Fight Turns, Soo Kim (as expected) commented on Tegna's announcement from yesterday and to no one's surprise it's very provacative. Here's the statement:

Quote

We understand that TEGNA's process has stalled because, amid a global emergency and capital markets dislocation, this Board has created arbitrary deadlines and unnecessary preconditions. By their own admission, the Company has been unwilling to provide access to information unless suitors first demonstrate certainty of financing. This approach would be off market in any deal environment, and particularly so under current market conditions. The Board's actions appear designed to end this process before it can even begin in earnest. This is just the latest in a troubling pattern of behavior. It should never have come to this, and shareholders need to hold this Board accountable.

So COVID-19 has not stopped Soo Kim from pursuing a takeover of Tegna and I actually can't blame Kim for that one bit.

Another Standard-Tegna update, former Tribune executive Larry Wert has dropped out of the running for a spot on Tegna's board and no it's not because of COVID-19 but because of a clause within his contract that prevents Wert from joining another company for at least a year (which was included in Wert's contract when he was running Tribune)

So Tegna has finally responded to Soo Kim's request to talk about the bid's and apparently 2 of the parties (one of them presumably Apollo the other being Gray) has dropped out of the running for Tegna due to COVID-19 concerns https://www.tegna.com/tegna-reports-on-acquisition-approaches/

So that leaves the Najafi/TBN and Byron Allen unless Soo Kim comes in to takeover.

On 3/26/2020 at 2:57 PM, Bill from Maspeth said:

IDK how long ago this happened, but Ch. 2 seems to have cancelled the 12 Noon newscast.  They are running Entertainment Tonight or one of those other gossip shows instead.  Bad job by Ch. 2. if this is permanent.  In a time when NY needs more news/information than ever due to this Covid-19, this is a completely irresponsible move.  As it is Channel 2 is last place in the 3 station news race, to my knowledge, and will certainly stay there now.

Looking at the schedule on the TV Guide app, they replaced the 12pm newscast with Inside Edition. I imagine it's just a temporary move.

6 hours ago, ns8401 said:

That’s from an employee at WXYZ... they have too much going on right now to mess with it with the statewide lockdown and all the precautions going on so it’s on indefinite hold until this blows over. They have all the promo graphics and bumpers switched over now including the sponsored by bumpers which are the newest thing. It all looks really good.

If I had to guess some of the stations within Scripps are in a disagreement in terms of how they want to get the new pkg rolled out to their stations I can tell some want to get it done as soon as possible (KGTV, KSHB) others think that a new pkg is the least of their worries right now and I don't think WXYZ is the only one in that camp, I'm sure there has to be other Scripps stations that likely feel the same way as WXYZ right now.

26 minutes ago, TSSZNews said:

Gray was their last and best hope? Really?

Apollo and Allen was the best hope.

Problem isn't those groups or COVID-19, the problem is Tegna's Board of Directors' resistence and their attitude towards these groups who are bidding for them have become a problem in fact throughout the lengthy filing I read I saw no mention of either of the bidders for Tegna in the filing whereas Standard General was mentioned a bunch of times in the filing.

Overall in my eyes, the attitude on the part of the board of directors tells me they'd much rather be taken over by Soo Kim than to do the right thing and sell.

Meanwhile just reading some of the information from the filings Tegna made earlier today it seams as if Tegna is not preparing to be sold they're preparing to be taken over by Soo Kim https://www.streetinsider.com/SEC+Filings/Form+PRER14A+TEGNA+INC/16660413.html

Quote

As a result of the potential proxy solicitation by Standard General, we will incur additional costs in connection with our solicitation of proxies. We have hired Innisfree M&A Incorporated, a proxy solicitation firm, to assist us in soliciting proxies for a fee of $            . Innisfree expects that approximately [            ] of their employees will assist in the solicitation. The total amount to be spent for the Company’s solicitation of proxies from shareholders for the Annual Meeting, in excess of those normally spent for an annual meeting as a result of the potential proxy contest and excluding salaries and wages of our officers and regular employees, is estimated to be approximately $            , approximately $             of which has been incurred to date.

The reason you're not seeing the figure information on here is because right now all the parties involved are sitting in some form of video call, etc. figuring up the costs associated with the Standard General takeover of Tegna.

On 3/17/2020 at 12:18 AM, ns8401 said:

WXYZ was supposed to launch tomorrow.. Corona Virus has put everything on hold. We have had the new promo packages here for weeks too so KSHB is probably right there as well waiting to launch.

COVID-19 hasn't prevented TV stations in general from rolling out new graphics. If it hasn't stopped Tegna from rolling out new graphics on their stations it wouldn't stop the Scripps stations from rolling out new graphics either.

My thinking here is Scripps is likely getting feedback from their stations that have already rolled out this package and what they want different within the pkg to make it work for their market I don't think COVID-19 has anything to do with why we haven't seen new Scripps stations rolling out this pkg in a while because it started slowing down even before COVID-19 took hold.

13 minutes ago, east-tx-tv said:

Just checked, and the main page on WTHR's website shows their live link at the top of the page as the "Eyewitness News 13 Live Stream".

That's because the tech people haven't had the chance to remove the Eyewitness News 13 from the link yet, they will eventually.

It takes time for things like that to change over it can't just happen overnight and besides I'd be willing to bet that the people who have been working on this project just recently started working from home amid COVID-19.

1 hour ago, TheRob said:

Good luck starting April 1, unless you're doing it remotely.

--------------------

KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP; www.meredith.com ) announced today that it has named Charlie Henrich Jr. Vice President and General Manager of KCTV and KSMO, Meredith's CBS and MyNetwork TV stations in Kansas City, MO, effective April 1, 2020. Henrich replaces Chuck Poduska whose retirement is effective on March 31, 2020. Henrich currently serves as VP/General Manager at WHNS-TV, Meredith's FOX affiliate in Greenville, SC.

"Charlie has more than 20 years of experience in local television management and operations and has done a tremendous job managing WHNS/FOX Carolina," said Meredith Local Media Group President Patrick McCreery. "Under his leadership, FOX Carolina now has the top-rated newscasts at 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., he also launched a new one-hour news and lifestyle program. We are excited to bring his energy and employee-first leadership to KCTV and KSMO."

Prior to serving as VP/General Manager of WHNS-TV, Henrich spent five years in Kansas City as Vice President of Operations for Newport Television, overseeing multiple stations in Top 60 markets such as Jacksonville, FL, Memphis, TN and Mobile, AL. He also served as General Manager of KMEG-TV and KPTH-TV in Sioux City, IA; and VP and General Manager of WFTX-TV in Fort Myers, FL.

"I am excited to be returning to Kansas City and to be joining the team at KCTV and KSMO," said Henrich. "I look forward to building on the station's legacy of trustworthy journalism and continuing to serve our community and our clients in new and innovative ways."

Henrich earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communications from the University of Minnesota.

Wait, are you saying that Henrich can't come into the building on April 1 to start his new job?

3 hours ago, jbnews said:

I highly doubt it's because of acquisition attempts. Even if they do decide to sell, it could be a year or more before they are officially taken over. They still have to operate.

 

It could be because of COVID-19, an error, they are moving to a new website, or those positions got filled and they never took them down.

Is Tegna actually looking into going to a new website or no? Because it could be anything at this point

19 hours ago, EastTennesseeWXGeek said:

How can I join the Discord? There's something here on the TVNewsTalk website that says you can join it, but it won't let me.

4 hours ago, ScottJ said:

 

Not to take this thread too far off topic, but I tried to join the Discord yesterday, too, and when I clicked the Join link, I got this error message:

That might be what EastTenneseeWXGeek is talking about when he says it won't let him join.

If that's the case then I'd suggest taking it to the mods and admins in a direct message and see if they can help you get that resolved.

16 minutes ago, TSSZNews said:

They're really going to change stuff out during a national emergency?

Ooooooook.

I mean even WBNS rolled out the Tegna gfx/music even when the national emergency was just getting underway so I'm not really surprised.

2 hours ago, EastTennesseeWXGeek said:

How can I join the Discord? There's something here on the TVNewsTalk website that says you can join it, but it won't let me.

Here's the screenshot of what it would look like and there should be a button that looks something like that down below in this post

In other news, the heat and the pressure on Tegna to either sell the company or face being taken over is being turned up and turned up by quite a bit. Standard General Founding Partner Soo Kim has come out with this statement regarding the situation within Tegna that's been an evolving situation over the last 2 weeks.

Quote

It has been two weeks since we commented on the obligation of the TEGNA Board to run a full and fair process, with the assistance of independent advisors, to explore all alternatives to maximize value for all shareholders. During that time, there have been numerous reports of interest from credible third parties in an acquisition of TEGNA, but to date TEGNA has made no public statement regarding these proposals. Indeed, TEGNA continues to publish investor materials that omit any reference to these acquisition proposals, which present the opportunity for all shareholders to realize a substantial premium to the undisturbed market price of TEGNA common stock.

Consistent with its fiduciary responsibility to maximize the value of shareholders' investment, we expect the TEGNA Board to pursue these offers vigorously. We expect TEGNA to give interested parties access to due diligence to enable those parties the opportunity to develop their offers for the Company. In light of challenging market conditions, TEGNA should be open to creative structures and financing solutions that will maximize value and certainty for all shareholders.  Standard General remains ready to work with TEGNA to help thoughtfully evaluate all alternatives. However, if the TEGNA Board takes actions that discourage or create obstacles for credible third parties, we will hold the Board and its advisors accountable.

Is Soo Kim acting like a bully in this situation? Yes but that's only because Tegna (who's just as much responsible for this as Kim is) put him in this spot by not being negotiable with Kim and by rejecting every nominee that Kim has sent to be on Tegna's board that are more qualified for the job and has years of experience working at various station groups in some capacity than what some of the people on Tegna's board are.

After all Kim didn't buy nearly 10% of Tegna for nothing.

1 hour ago, scrabbleship said:

If its Apollo I have my doubts. 

Exactly and I think both Apollo and Allen present the best of the best options Tegna can ask for and it shows.

Btw, I've been anticipating this potential Apollo-Tegna marriage since this post I made below when the rumors started flowing about Apollo and Tegna, Apollo-Tegna back in August would've not made any sense but now they have Cox everything just fits in perfectly for the Cox stations.

On 8/21/2019 at 12:51 PM, oknewsguy said:

With Meredith perhaps becoming a buyer, I think Tegna is more likely for Apollo

2 minutes ago, TheRolyPoly said:

They should put Barren's background as a live shot of Charleston just for keeps! Lmao.

That may not be that bad of an idea at all

4 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

WSAZ has always had a dual-market approach and is currently the only station based out of Huntington. 

WCHS has always been Charleston based, but has attempted some coverage of Huntington over the years...mostly from their "Putnam County Newsroom"...aka the WVAH studios in Hurricane.

WOWK was based out of Huntington for many years, and even copied WSAZ's "dual box" approach for a while, but ended up doing the whole show out of Huntington....until 2012 when the main studios moved to Downtown Charleston in a portion of the Charleston City Center Mall.

Pretty much WSAZ doesn't have to worry about social distancing that their competitors have to worry about.

2 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

WSAZ...

Social distancing since 1956.

Even Chet Huntley and David Brinkley copied it years later...decades before it became a necessity!

 

Even all of the Fort Smith stations used to be that way until in recent years when everybody moved to the NWA area.

I wonder if they went back to that format now with this social distancing stuff

1 minute ago, MidwestTV said:

...Trinity?

That'd be correct, they're teaming up with Najafi Cos to bid on Tegna

48 minutes ago, Weeters said:

Essentially he buys Tegna, shoves his existing stations and properties under it, and lets them do the work while collecting money.

 

That's it. That's his motive. This isn't some grand scheme to shake up Tegna. 

 

Same goes for Apollo. 

Or at least that was what Tegna said when they confirmed about Apollo showing interest in them. Of course that was last year.

I'm still not sure if those plans have changed (at least on Apollo's end) or if it's still the same as what Tegna said in the press release last year.

All I know is things at Tegna just keeps getting more and more interesting by the day (COVID stuff notwithstanding)

6 minutes ago, noggi said:

Byron Allen isn't going to run the day to day operations of a local station group. If he acquires TEGNA, the corporate management team comes with it.

 

This may come as a complete shock and surprise to you all but local stations are about more than news music, sets and graphics... TEGNA has a large corporate staff to help their 60+ stations run their day to day broadcast, digital and sales ad ops. 

Is this the part you're referring to? 

Quote

The due-diligence process has been continuing with Apollo and Allen, a comedian-turned-entrepreneur who wants to use Tegna to help build a media empire.

2 hours ago, TheRyan said:

 

At this point a stand-up comedian (albeit former) would do better running Tegna or whatever the final entity would be known by than Tegna as it currently exists...

Either Allen or Ms. Guthrie from Cox

I think in spite of Tegna's reservations about private equity firms they may have no choice but to go there if it had to come down to that because this whole COIVD-19 stuff is going to keep companies like Meredith, Scripps and others away from bidding for Tegna's stations and if there were any prospects of those aforementioned companies bidding for Tegna (if there were any) that took a big hit today with Gray dropping out.