Big Country News 435 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 BREAKING: Tribune to acquire 19 Local TV Stations for $2.75bil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanewsguy 509 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 And here's the story from none other than the Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-tribune-buying-local-tv-20130701,0,3402241.story Shocking but guess some of us couldn't say we didn't see it coming. The headline's somewhat misleading though. The deal will add 19 television stations in 16 markets to Tribune Co.'s television portfolio, making it the largest commercial television station owner in the U.S., with 42 properties across the country. No, Sinclair's still the largest though with their future 140 stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4250 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 So I assume that KPLR will go into a shell, or they can try to get away with a duopoly in St. Louis? Guess we'll have to wait and see... Regardless, Tribune toyed with Fox for #1 on my list of possible buyers for LocalTV. I have high hopes for them, especially after their failing newspaper division is finally unloaded. And REJOICE!!! Sinclair didn't get any of them! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanewsguy 509 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 OK, I was literally nervous as I was posting earlier. But I can kinda analyze this. I think the Local TV stations are in good hands under Tribune. They'll largely be run the same. They get their first Big Three stations (for purposes of this comment I'm not counting WGNO, they're run more like a Fox affiliate IMO rather than an ABC affiliate). A lot of these stations have had news departments since the 1950's unlike WGNO who's only had theirs since 1996. These station tend to do a great a job with local news programming and as long as Tribune keeps current station management intact (which I think they will) the stations will do fine. The Fox affiliates will also be the same I think. As far as St. Louis is concerned (STL and Denver are the only two markets with overlap) I see KPLR (or KTVI) spun into a shell with Tribune running the other station via SSA. Of course we don't have any examples to go off of so I guess we'll just to wait until later today to see what happens. Literally as I type this they are having their conference call so everything I write is pure speculation. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Also wouldn't be shocked to see Tribune spin off some of the smaller stations such as KFSM. Doesn't really fit into their portfolio of large and mid-market stations and KFSM is small market. And REJOICE!!! Sinclair didn't get any of them! :D Yes, thank god Sinclair didn't get any of them but it's very shocking. Didn't see them going whole and especially not to Tribune. But they're a great operator and I wish nothing but the best to the employees of these stations as they transition to new ownership. Tribune will definitely continue to invest in these stations and I'll be watching this throughout the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jterry 43 Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 Wow! I suspected Tribune would be involved in a piecemeal deal but in no way was I suspecting they'd pick up the entire group. What a move and this should be considered a big statement by them on their commitment to television stations. With their newspapers soon unloaded, this could become a powerhouse group and employees of these stations should be very very happy considering the alternatives. I'm just happy to be in a market where yet again somehow Sinclair ownership has been avoided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ntropolis 593 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 No, Sinclair's still the largest though with their future 140 stations. Maybe they mean in terms of revenue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4250 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 No, Sinclair's still the largest though with their future 140 stations. I think what they were getting at is that Tribune is the largest in terms of market size, not total amounts of assets owned. Or something to that effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3489 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I figured this was coming...Local TV has been tied at the hip to Tribune in many ways since its founding... I wouldn't be surprised if "Local TV" is the licensee of KTVI...and one of their people is the owner of the license. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennTV1983 756 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I figured this was coming...Local TV has been tied at the hip to Tribune in many ways since its founding... I wouldn't be surprised if "Local TV" is the licensee of KTVI...and one of their people is the owner of the license. It's either that or "Community Televison" like they've been using. This is definitely good news for the Local TV properties. More so for the fact that they didn't end up in the hands of Sinclair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bammy9 26 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Just hearing this news, I'll say the obvious, I saw that one coming. And REJOICE!!! Sinclair didn't get any of them! :D I think the chorus agrees... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRob 920 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 If Local TV wanted to sell everything at once, Tribune was one of only a couple of buyers I could see making that deal. Now they just need sell those newspapers. For us, pretty much nothing changes. Our newsroom software, video server, commercial playback server, aircheck server, master control software-- it all comes from Tribune (thanks, Hank). I'm satisfied with the decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABC 7 Denver 1564 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Tribune, Bankruptcy Over, Is Expected to Sell Assets Now don't we feel silly! http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/tribune-co-emerges-from-bankruptcy/?ref=oaktreecapitalgroupllc&_r=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4250 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Interesting when you re-read this month-old Variety story about Peter Liguori, when he spoke of "beefing up" Tribune's TV assets, he wasn't talking about just WGN America. Maybe we SHOULDN'T be surprised. If anything, the ties between Tribune and Fox will probably be strengthened with this. Now they own multiple key Fox and MyTV affiliates in the top 25 markets. Think of CBS's long relationship with Storer Broadcasting (that effectively ended with the Fox/New World alliance), and ABC's long relationship with Taft... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1945 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 OMG!!!! YES!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!! Thank You Jesus!!! I would've never thought I would see this coming towards any stretch of the imagination, I wouldn't thought that a company that just got out of bankruptcy 6 months ago and rebound to acquire the former NYT & Fox-owned stations. Hell after the Media Genera/Young and the Gannett/Belo mergers, I would strongly think this would be OPEN SEASON for those clan in Maryland. I thought this would be a Sinclair Slam-Dunk, like these other M&As in the last 21 months. I'm surely getting my wish today that WITI & WGN will officially become sister-stations. This is now the biggest acquisition in the current M&A craze ($2.75B) and this will be the largest station group in the U.S. with a total of around 46% (7% over the cap (39%) and greater than post-Gannett's pct. of 28%). But since the majority of stations are on the UHF dial (only WPIX, KCPQ, WJW & WHO are physicaly on VHF), with the UHF discount, it would amount to about 23%. I wonder which shell will acquire KPLR though? The station is not a 'failed station' to get that waiver card. So that's remains to be seen. Now Is it early for me to say that the Trib should get Allbritton (sans WJLA)? Although I would love to see Scripps acquire KATV & WBMA, KATV & KFSM would be best friends in Arkansas, if the Trib get the stations outside of DC. Hell, Even though I strongly want to see ABC get WJLA for obvious reasons, WJLA wouldn't be out of the question either for the Trib. I would love to see the expression on David Smith's face if Tribune gets WJLA and win the duopoly prize, the one he really wanted. But again, I still think this is ABC's one to lose. 'Massa' David, you and your clan think you can gobble all the stations you can like Pac-Man? But you can't mess with the rolling thunder of the Windy City. The Trib just unleashed its wrath on you. Maybe its time for you to end this M&A craze quietly, and put all that money (you about to shell out to get more stations) where it needs to be and that's the infrastructure within the stations itself. But they're the ones that started the M&A craze, I think they just continue to buy until there's nothing else to buy. This is no doubt the best news I've heard in this phase of the M&A Craze. Chi-Town FTMFW!!!! Chi-Town FTMFW!!!! Tribune, Do Not Mess This Up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Hopefully this will lead to Tribune investing in its other stations. Also, does anyone think that this deal will lead to FOX buying/trading stations from/with Tribune? Theoretically FOX could cherry pick any of the Fox affiliates from Tribune without having to buy the whole thing. Just a thought since Tribune seems to work well with Fox and the head of Tribune came from Fox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swillh2k2 203 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 OMG!!!! YES!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!! Thank You Jesus!!! ... 'Massa' David, you and your clan think you can gobble all the stations you can like Pac-Man? But you can't mess with the rolling thunder of the Windy City. The Trib just unleashed its wrath on you. ... Chi-Town FTMFW!!!! Chi-Town FTMFW!!!! Tribune, Do Not Mess This Up. :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skbl17 188 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Wow. Every time I wake up, an M&A almost nobody expected happens, first the Belo/Gannett marriage, then this....I should stop going to bed. Hey, at least KWGN and KDVR will be officially together from now on! :lol: Congratulations to Tribune on pulling off a gigantic acquisition fresh out of bankruptcy (I hope I won't regret saying that..)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanewsguy 509 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 No, I don't see Tribune buying Allbritton. Only reason this acquisition even remotely made sense for Tribune is because the relationship the two companies had together since 2009. Hopefully these Local TV stations don't get Tribune's god-awful web layout and keep their existing sites since both already use Wordpress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jterry 43 Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 In hindsight, this deal does make sense. I guess the most surprising part is most didn't expect Tribune to purchase such a valuable group whole with them just coming out of bankruptcy. If you want to be amused check out the early pages of this thread when the sale was first announced. Tribune was indeed discussed a good bit. Particular kudos to TennTV1983 for calling Tribune a dark horse almost immediately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToriElectra 291 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Well, if Trib gets their hands on NewsChannel8, they could run it easily, given that they already operate CLTV with WGN. And NC8 could easily produce a 10PM newscast for WDCW (they tried that for WDCA back in the mid-90's, but it was quickly cancelled). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidwestTV 1174 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Hmm...so I really do wonder what possibly made the talks with Sinclair fall through? Perhaps LocalTV had enough sense to not sell their stations to the Devil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2878 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 What a great thing to wake up to on Monday. Tribune now becomes a real force of a station group (one that is no chump seller). And that price tag is truly something else. The M&A band is going at full strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundershock MN 169 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 If anything, the ties between Tribune and Fox will probably be strengthened with this. Now they own multiple key Fox and MyTV affiliates in the top 25 markets. Think of CBS's long relationship with Storer Broadcasting (that effectively ended with the Fox/New World alliance), and ABC's long relationship with Taft... I agree. Another example might be WXYZ(Scripps)/ABC. One note along the same lines. TV News Check's article points out this little tidbit. "One of the key synergies: Tribune will pay no reverse compensation through 2018 to Fox for the seven Fox stations acquired in the deal." Also, In the article they state Tribune will have four independent stations after the deal closes. They reiterate the point later in the article stating "Those stations include news-producing independent stations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles." Umm...did I miss something and Tribune gave up the CW affiliation on their flagships? Or, is Tv News Check attempting to predict the future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2878 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Tribune runs its CWs like independents anyway (a good business decision considering their long and rich local histories). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hathawaynson2 38 Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 HALLEJULAH! HALLEJUAH! Local TV, LLC has been saved from Sinclair Televison (aka slutcrap, s***tclair) and Nexstar Broadcasting Group! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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