Update: Tribune to acquire Local TV for 2.75 billion

[ABC 7 Denver 1562]

 

Why? The Tribune stations that are showing Eye Opener or News Fix have little to no news staff. Why would KWGN need to do this when they already share content/talent with KDVR? They could always re-evaluate the situation to see if it's worth keeping KWGN's AM newscast but there's a reason why it's still there. I don't get why you're so insistent on Tribune getting rid of the am newscast on KWGN, which would lead to more people getting laid off.

 

Cost savings, sir. I'm not a proponent for people losing their jobs. However, if the business as a whole is going to remain viable, smart decisions will need to be made. It may even be more effective to simulcast Good Day Colorado.

 

The reason Oakhill Capital Partners sold Local TV is because they found the television business to no longer be a desirable, nor effective, revenue stream. Why would you think that Tribune would purchase the Local TV stations and keep everything status quo? This is a money making business. Let's not kid ourselves. If the cost of Eye Opener or News Fix is offset by the reduction is staff, all things constant, then this would be the route taken.

 

Daybreak may be well received, but if the advertising revenue from that 6-9a block can remain constant with a switch to a less expensive program, that is great news. It means lower costs and higher profits.

[A3N 996]

 

Cost savings, sir. I'm not a proponent for people losing their jobs. However, if the business as a whole is going to remain viable, smart decisions will need to be made. It may even be more effective to simulcast Good Day Colorado.

 

The reason Oakhill Capital Partners sold Local TV is because they found the television business to no longer be a desirable, nor effective, revenue stream. Why would you think that Tribune would purchase the Local TV stations and keep everything status quo? This is a money making business. Let's not kid ourselves. If the cost of Eye Opener or News Fix is offset by the reduction is staff, all things constant, then this would be the route taken.

 

Daybreak may be well received, but if the advertising revenue from that 6-9a block can remain constant with a switch to a less expensive program, that is great news. It means lower costs and higher profits.

 

These stations have been working together for several years now. Point is they've been running pretty efficiently for a while now. There is no reason to simulcast GDC, they are not going to get double the ad revenue for airing the same program on two channels. Oakhill sold it's stations not because the tv business wasn't viable anymore, but because they could get the maximum return on their investment. Also, it was a given that Oakhill was going to sell its tv portfolio since they are/were not in the business to run tv stations for the long term- they're in the business to make money for the company/shareholders. Also, there is no way that ad revenue stays the same if Daybreak were dropped in favor of eye-opener.

[LTSC1980 99]

http://www.localtvllc.com/

 

It's still on. I thought the merger is complete but.......

[sanewsguy 509]

 

http://www.localtvllc.com/

 

It's still on. I thought the merger is complete but.......

 

I guess you didn't see this:

 

Our GM expects the sale to close on December 27th.

 

He's a producer at WDAF so I'm positive what he's saying is correct.

[LTSC1980 99]

 

http://www.localtvllc.com/

 

It's still on. I thought the merger is complete but.......

 

All the Local TV stations has deleted Local TV byline. Not sure will they get Tribune copyright but It's near.

[T.L. Hughes 760]

All the Local TV stations has deleted Local TV byline. Not sure will they get Tribune copyright but It's near.

I assume you mean on the station websites. On-air, didn't most of the stations use their licensee or their callsign in the copyright tag at the end of newscasts? I know KFOR and KAUT do the latter and KDVR uses their Community Television of Colorado licensee on-air (ironically, its sister station KWGN, already owned by Tribune references its ownership in its copyright tag).

[sanewsguy 509]

 

I assume you mean on the station websites. On-air, didn't most of the stations use their licensee or their callsign in the copyright tag at the end of newscasts? I know KFOR and KAUT do the latter and KDVR uses their Community Television of Colorado licensee on-air (ironically, its sister station KWGN, already owned by Tribune references its ownership in its copyright tag).

 

Yes they were deleted from the station websites.

[memnews1 25]

WREG never showed the Local TV copyright over the close. Instead, they always took a skycam shot with the lower third displaying the director and producers.

[LoadStar 363]

I'm pretty sure that Fox6Now.com (WITI-TV Milwaukee) never had any reference at all to Local TV, and I know on air they were identified as "Community Television of Wisconsin, LLC."

[LoadStar 363]

The sale has closed:

http://wtvr.com/2013/12/27/tribune-wtvr-sale-closes/

http://fox6now.com/2013/12/27/fox6-18-other-tv-stations-now-owned-by-tribune-company/

[TexasTVNews 1367]

http://kfor.com/2013/12/20/news-channel-4-freedom-43-tv-getting-new-owners/

[LoadStar 363]

WITI still using the same copyright on their 11:00 newscast, "© 2013 Community Television of Wisconsin, LLC"

[T.L. Hughes 760]

KFOR is still also using the same copyright on its newscasts, "© 2013 KFOR-TV". It will either be a while before the former Local TV stations begin incorporating Tribune references in their copyrights or they might not do it at all.

 

With Tribune now owning the Local TV stations, there are two things to wonder when they'll happen:

* How long it will be before the websites of the former Local TV stations be switched to Tribune's Facebook-esque site design (which is just a matter of design since the Tribune and Local TV stations use Wordpress VIP).

* When the company's new Fox affiliates will switch to Tribune's standardized Fox graphics (although there are still a couple of already-Tribune-owned Fox stations left, *cough* KCPQ, that have yet to switch over).

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

KFOR is still also using the same copyright on its newscasts, "© 2013 KFOR-TV". It will either be a while before the former Local TV stations begin incorporating Tribune references in their copyrights or they might not do it at all.

 

With Tribune now owning the Local TV stations, there are two things to wonder when they'll happen:

* How long it will be before the websites of the former Local TV stations be switched to Tribune's Facebook-esque site design (which is just a matter of design since the Tribune and Local TV stations use Wordpress VIP).

* When the company's new Fox affiliates will switch to Tribune's standardized Fox graphics (although there are still a couple of already-Tribune-owned Fox stations left, *cough* KCPQ, that have yet to switch over).

 

Does Tribune still do the Tribune Tower graphic at the end of their newscasts like they do on WGN? I imagine the Local TV outlets will be using those shortly.

 

Same with the website and the standardized graphics for the Fox affiliates. Those Fox affiliates are desperate for a graphics overhaul (minus KDVR which I imagine might get an exemption like KCPQ seems to be getting).

[T.L. Hughes 760]

 

Does Tribune still do the Tribune Tower graphic at the end of their newscasts like they do on WGN? I imagine the Local TV outlets will be using those shortly.

 

Same with the website and the standardized graphics for the Fox affiliates. Those Fox affiliates are desperate for a graphics overhaul (minus KDVR which I imagine might get an exemption like KCPQ seems to be getting).

 

Having seen newscasts from KTLA, WPIX and KWGN online before (within the last year-and-a-half), neither of them use the Tribune Tower ID. I'm not sure if any other Tribune stations do besides WGN-TV (the only other usage of the tower ID I know of is during the end vanity cards of Arsenio and The Bill Cunningham Show), anyone know if any other existing Tribune stations use it?

[sanewsguy 509]

I hope they don't switch to the disaster the Tribune stations currently use for their sites. They should keep the current layout, it is honestly one of the best local site templates out there.

[LoadStar 363]

The copyright on WITI has changed from "Community TV of Wisconsin, LLC" to "FOX6 Milwaukee." I get the impression that is about the only major change we're going to see for a while.

[Rusty Muck 4225]

The copyright on WITI has changed from "Community TV of Wisconsin, LLC" to "FOX6 Milwaukee." I get the impression that is about the only major change we're going to see for a while.

WJW's copyright tag also was altered to, "Copyright 2013 WJW FOX 8 Cleveland, All rights reserved."

[Mrtraveler01 737]

KTVI's switched to "Copyright 2013 Fox 2 St. Louis"

 

I agree. I'm not expecting much else in terms of change.

[Thundershock MN 169]

Sinclair might have wanted Local TV, but Tribune wasn't just going to let the company slip through their fingers. They had a management agreement going for about five years before the purchase. As alluded to in earlier posts on this thread, whenever the Local TV station decided to go up for sale, Tribune was going to be the first to jump at the chance of acquiring them.

 

With Sinclair embroiled in the ownership conflicts with Allbritton, it would have faced the same (or similar) scrutiny had it bought Local TV, considering the overlap in certain markets like Milwaukee, the Piedmont Triad and Oklahoma City. There are ownership conflicts with this deal, too, but it's moot as Tribune will soon spin off its newspapers in the markets where it had to turn stations over to Dreamcatcher anyway. Tribune is not anything like Sinclair, other than the LMAs it had with KWGN and KDVR, most of its duoplies are legal on the licenses.

 

Considering that the deal does put them just over the market reach limit for station groups, would it be impossible for Tribune to acquire WTKR, WGNT and WNEP from Dreamcatcher outright once the papers are spun off?

I would presume that since the purchase option was part of the application it is technically "grandfathered" since pending applications were "grandfathered." Although, the discount was never really done away with...everyone is just supposed to pretend and act like it's gone until the FCC gets around to it. That didn't seem to stop Ion, though.

[tw-804 190]

WTVR switched to "Copyright 2013 WTVR-TV" after the sale has closed. Now it's "Copyright 2014 WTVR-TV, A Tribune Station."

[T.L. Hughes 760]

 

KFOR is still also using the same copyright on its newscasts, "© 2013 KFOR-TV". It will either be a while before the former Local TV stations begin incorporating Tribune references in their copyrights or they might not do it at all.

 

With Tribune now owning the Local TV stations, there are two things to wonder when they'll happen:

* How long it will be before the websites of the former Local TV stations be switched to Tribune's Facebook-esque site design (which is just a matter of design since the Tribune and Local TV stations use Wordpress VIP).

* When the company's new Fox affiliates will switch to Tribune's standardized Fox graphics (although there are still a couple of already-Tribune-owned Fox stations left, *cough* KCPQ, that have yet to switch over).

 

I forgot to mention, that another thing to watch for with Tribune now taking over the Local TV stations is when they'll start affiliating some of them with This TV (and for that matter, affiliating them with the existing Tribune stations that don't carry it), since affiliation contracts with the network in some cities will run out at various points over the next couple of years. It's more than likely that among the new duopolies that the station not carrying a subchannel will add This (like KAUT-TV here, for instance) rather than a station that already carries Antenna TV adding a This TV subchannel as the standalone stations will eventually do.

 

The Quad Cities are a tough one to place: Nexstar is buying that market's This TV affiliate, CW station KGCW, and Nexstar's use of subchannels is rather spotty (it's dumped more subchannels than kept). It'd be hard for WQAD to put a This TV subchannel in that market, since it carries Antenna TV on digital channel 8.2 and MyNetworkTV on digital channel 8.3. Unless another station elects to take the MyNetworkTV affiliation in that market or WQAD adds a fourth subchannel, either This will stay on KGCW or the network will be out an affiliate in the area.

[CircleSeven 1945]

 

I forgot to mention, that another thing to watch for with Tribune now taking over the Local TV stations is when they'll start affiliating some of them with This TV (and for that matter, affiliating them with the existing Tribune stations that don't carry it), since affiliation contracts with the network in some cities will run out at various points over the next couple of years. It's more than likely that among the new duopolies that the station not carrying a subchannel will add This (like KAUT-TV here, for instance) rather than a station that already carries Antenna TV adding a This TV subchannel as the standalone stations will eventually do.

 

The Quad Cities are a tough one to place: Nexstar is buying that market's This TV affiliate, CW station KGCW, and Nexstar's use of subchannels is rather spotty (it's dumped more subchannels than kept). It'd be hard for WQAD to put a This TV subchannel in that market, since it carries Antenna TV on digital channel 8.2 and MyNetworkTV on digital channel 8.3. Unless another station elects to take the MyNetworkTV affiliation in that market or WQAD adds a fourth subchannel, either This will stay on KGCW or the network will be out an affiliate in the area.

 

I certainly can't wait for KPRC to dump This TV and move it to KIAH.

 

As for Nexstar, since the recent acquisitions, in which they've dropped This TV & Live Well to the station's lineups. And since Nexstar is buying WHBF, likely they'll dump it post-transaction. If I would've thought of a compromise (and this would be a hard sell because Nexstar uses subs in the rarest cases), I would of move its MyNet to either KLJB or KGCW's subchannel, and have This TV to replace MyNet, so at least the picture quality on the main channel won't be that bad. But I think Trib will just dedicate another subchannel (8.4) for This TV before anything else.

 

I said earlier on the other thread a few days ago, and I wish the Trib should buy Cleveland's WBNX, and Dreamcatcher buy Lockwood's WCWG, (both are CW affiliates) because they have the This TV affiliation now. Unlike the incumbent Dreamcatcher stations that can be bought back by Tribune post-spinoff of its papers, The Trib won't be able to buy WCWG outright so quickly because of duopoly restrictions. Because Sinclair has the only duopoly (WXLV/WMYV), they have to keep that eight voices rule in the Piedmont. But if want to buy back the current Dreamcatchers, they better hurry up before the FCC rules on the discount matter. With the situation in Greensboro & Cleveland, should they think about doing that, they wouldn't have to place another subchannel on WGHP or WJW respectively.

[Rusty Muck 4225]

 

I forgot to mention, that another thing to watch for with Tribune now taking over the Local TV stations is when they'll start affiliating some of them with This TV (and for that matter, affiliating them with the existing Tribune stations that don't carry it), since affiliation contracts with the network in some cities will run out at various points over the next couple of years. It's more than likely that among the new duopolies that the station not carrying a subchannel will add This (like KAUT-TV here, for instance) rather than a station that already carries Antenna TV adding a This TV subchannel as the standalone stations will eventually do.

 

The Quad Cities are a tough one to place: Nexstar is buying that market's This TV affiliate, CW station KGCW, and Nexstar's use of subchannels is rather spotty (it's dumped more subchannels than kept). It'd be hard for WQAD to put a This TV subchannel in that market, since it carries Antenna TV on digital channel 8.2 and MyNetworkTV on digital channel 8.3. Unless another station elects to take the MyNetworkTV affiliation in that market or WQAD adds a fourth subchannel, either This will stay on KGCW or the network will be out an affiliate in the area.

 

I don't know how long ThisTV has in Cleveland with Winston Broadcasting's WBNX 55.3, but I can't imagine Tribune just pulling the affiliation out from under them.

 

 

I said earlier on the other thread a few days ago, and I wish the Trib should buy Cleveland's WBNX, and Dreamcatcher buy Lockwood's WCWG, (both are CW affiliates) because they have the This TV affiliation now. Unlike the incumbent Dreamcatcher stations that can be bought back by Tribune post-spinoff of its papers, The Trib won't be able to buy WCWG outright so quickly because of duopoly restrictions. Because Sinclair has the only duopoly (WXLV/WMYV), they have to keep that eight voices rule in the Piedmont. But if want to buy back the current Dreamcatchers, they better hurry up before the FCC rules on the discount matter. With the situation in Greensboro & Cleveland, should they think about doing that, they wouldn't have to place another subchannel on WGHP or WJW respectively.

 

I don't see any immediate suggestion that WBNX is for sale.

 

But also remember that the person behind Winston Broadcasting is the nonagenarian Rev. Ernest Angley. He may not have much longer to live... but would his ministry keep the station should he pass away? Or unload it?

 

And if that all does transpire, expect the "will S!nclair buy WBNX?" question. Unlike LocalTV, who was closely tied to the Tribune stations, thereby giving Tribune the inside track, that didn't and doesn't exist for WBNX.

[broadcastfan9751 136]

Free Press has now filed an Application for Review asking the FCC to overturn its approval of the Tribune/Local TV deal. They also did the same thing with the Gannett/Belo deal. This probably won't go anywhere, since the deal has been completed.