tyrannical bastard 3464 Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Since Local TV is owned by private equity (Oak Hill Capital), a piecemeal sale could maximize each station's value more than a group sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Here is my prediction: Meredith: WREG, WGHP, WHO, WNEP, and KSTU Nexstar: KFOR/KAUT, WTKR/WGNT, and WQAD LIN: WTVR, KFSM/KNWX, WITI, and WHNT FOX: KDVR, KTVI, and WJW What about WDAF? Think Fox will be in the buying mood after selling off all these stations a few years back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike91 66 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 What about WDAF? Think Fox will be in the buying mood after selling off all these stations a few years back? They obviously were in an enough of a buying mood to get WJZY/WMYT. I could see them getting KDVR (don't know why they sold it in the first place) and maybe KTVI and a big maybe to WDAF. I would say no to Cleveland (dying market). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hathawaynson2 38 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 What about WDAF? Think Fox will be in the buying mood after selling off all these stations a few years back? that is a very good question: Here's my prediction for WDAF: COX Media Group Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanewsguy 509 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 I don't think Fox wants WDAF back. Sinclair gets WDAF. As for the others (my prediction and analysis): Sinclair gets: WREG, WNEP, WQAD, WHNT, KFSM and WDAF Deerfield gets: KSTU These stations are scattered around the country in random markets which is what Sinclair wants. They have almost no criteria for their station. As long as the station has a network affiliation Sinclair wants it. I don't see Fox getting WDAF, too small of a market. KSTU can join forces with Utah's #1 News Team and create a much larger reporting staff which improves local news coverage so this would beneficial to the people of Utah. Especially in a State as big as Utah, this would help. Nexstar: KFOR/KAUT (and if they do, Mission buys KSBI), WTVR, WITI KFOR/KAUT is in a good location geographically for them expand. KSBI has a ton of local programming and is well-run and if Nexstar enters OKC with KFOR then I can see them pulling the Mission card, and buying KSBI and rebranding it into "KSBI Local" and mimicing the format at their other stations. WTVR just because Sinclair already tried to get WTVR and was rejected, and Media General will already own WRIC. Raycom has Richmond's #1 station so they're out. I can't think of anyone else who wants to buy WTVR. Nexstar does not already own in Virginia but it'll be a perfect fit for them. WITI can complement WFRV in Green Bay and this gives them another property in the Badger State. Media General: WGHP, WJW, WTKR/WGNT WJW can complement MG's WCMH 4 Columbus. WGHP because MG used to own a newspaper in this market before cashing out. They can reenter with a TV station however. WTKR is a good fit geographically and can share resources with WSLS Roanoke and WNCT in Greenville, NC. And they will continue to have access to Richmond news footage courtesy of WRIC. Meredith: WHO No brainer for them. Surprised they've never had a station of their own in their hometown or why they never bought WOI when it hit the market. So I see Meredith being the new owners of WHO. FOX (or Tribune): KDVR, and KTVI These are desirable markets for FOX to run an O&O. If they don't want them back they can always sell them to LMA partner Tribune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundershock MN 169 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 What about WDAF? Think Fox will be in the buying mood after selling off all these stations a few years back? They obviously were in an enough of a buying mood to get WJZY/WMYT. I could see them getting KDVR (don't know why they sold it in the first place) and maybe KTVI and a big maybe to WDAF. I would say no to Cleveland (dying market). Fox sold all those stations to Local TV in 2008 to help cover Rupert's purchase of Dow Jones/WSJ. The newspapers and publishing assets (along with all the Aussie properties) will be spun off next week into the new News Corp. Without having to help underwrite the losses of the of the newspaper & publishing assets going forward the new 21st Century Fox could definitely be in a postion to be a buyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swillh2k2 203 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Logically, KQAD (Quad Cities) to Nexstar makes sense--fits their small-to-mid market profile perfectly. I can see Meredith buying WHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Logically, KFSM (Ft. Smith) and KQAD (Quad Cities) to Nexstar make sense--fits their small-to-mid market profile perfectly. I can see Meredith buying WHO. While they have KNWA (NBC) & KFTA (FOX)? That would be a triopoly in that market. They would have to divest one of them. And alone KFSM has a duopoly KXNW 34. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Even then, they're pretty much maxed out in Fort Smith/Fayetteville unless they whip out that new shell they're using to get WEVV. Which I hope does not happen. I still think the only reason Fox even bought WJZY-WMYT was because it was Capitol's way of keeping WRAZ's Fox affiliation, I haven't heard any issues with WCCB crop up. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to buy back KDVR, at least; Denver was a pretty big market to be selling (we're #17; the only other top 20 market where Fox divested was Cleveland)...St. Louis would also make sense for them, especially if they want to keep the KDVR-KWGN and KTVI-KPLR arrangements going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swillh2k2 203 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 While they have KNWA (NBC) & KFTA (FOX)? That would be a triopoly in that market. They would have to divest one of them. And alone KFSM has a duopoly KXNW 34. Thanks. Helps to check before I type Still sticking to QAD to Nexstar and WHO to Meredith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronQ 259 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 What about WDAF? Think Fox will be in the buying mood after selling off all these stations a few years back? Crap I forgot about WDAF. I'll edit it. Thanks for the observation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Even then, they're pretty much maxed out in Fort Smith/Fayetteville unless they whip out that new shell they're using to get WEVV. Which I hope does not happen. I still think the only reason Fox even bought WJZY-WMYT was because it was Capitol's way of keeping WRAZ's Fox affiliation, I haven't heard any issues with WCCB crop up. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to buy back KDVR, at least; Denver was a pretty big market to be selling (we're #17; the only other top 20 market where Fox divested was Cleveland)...St. Louis would also make sense for them, especially if they want to keep the KDVR-KWGN and KTVI-KPLR arrangements going. Umm-Hmmm! I bet you that Capitol didn't want to leave Charlotte either. Even though the folks in WRAL-town will never publicly admit it, to me that had to be the major factor. If they didn't go through with it, Fox would've followed through with that Sinclair option to get WLFL/WRDC (and to me that would've been the better option than the Vegas, Hampton Roads & Cincy options). So It was a win-win for Fox either way. What shocked me was the price of those two stations ($18M) was relative short, I know these stations are probably the lowest-rated stations in Charlotte, but Capitol could've gotten more for those two stations. I'm going to repost my speculations on that buyer/sellers thread soon. Of course I have to do some alterations, since the announcements of two big mergers within the last two weeks. But I'm going to speculate this for short. I don't think Fox will come back to any of the markets that they sold. If they were dumb enough to sell it so they can get more dough to get that Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, why come back and buy the stations that you sold in the first place. You could've just never sold it off in the first place? They already sold another station, since they sold those Fox stations. They sold WUTB to Sinclair, and now they have a triplestick in their home turf. And I still think Fox will unload Memphis' WHBQ in the future. And even if the ownerships change hands in between different groups, I don't think these pairs will be broken (WTKR/WGNT & WTVR), (WREG & WHNT) and (WDAF & KTVI). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundershock MN 169 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Even then, they're pretty much maxed out in Fort Smith/Fayetteville unless they whip out that new shell they're using to get WEVV. Which I hope does not happen. I still think the only reason Fox even bought WJZY-WMYT was because it was Capitol's way of keeping WRAZ's Fox affiliation, I haven't heard any issues with WCCB crop up. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to buy back KDVR, at least; Denver was a pretty big market to be selling (we're #17; the only other top 20 market where Fox divested was Cleveland)...St. Louis would also make sense for them, especially if they want to keep the KDVR-KWGN and KTVI-KPLR arrangements going. The opportunity presented itself for Fox to use the purchase agreement w/ Sinclair for those six statons (WLFL, WRDZ, WSTR, WTVZ, KVCW & KVMY) as leverage to get another group to sell stations (WJZY/WMYT) to them. Whether or not that was the master plan or it just kinda worked out that way could be up for some debate, I guess. I'm not sure what Fox would've seen in those stations, save for Vegas (due to MC hub) anyway. They really didn't seem to fit, seemed more like trade bait. The KDVR/KWGN & KTVI/KPLR arangments make any sale of those a little more complex due to how intertwined the ops are now. Of course that can all be unwound I don't think it will. Hold on this is a little wild. But, I think Fox will make a run at most if not all the old O&O's that Local TV owns. They will keep at least KDVR & KTVI. Most of the remainder (along with the possible inclusion of WHBQ and/or KTBC) will be flipped to Tribune for WPHL, KCPQ & KZJO. Along with this KWGN & KPLR will end up under Fox ownership outright or controlled through LMA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 WLFL was Fox's old Research Triangle affiliate, and WTVZ was their old Hampton Roads affiliate. WLFL-WRDC would have made some amount of sense because it's a duopoly, while WTVZ has no partner and is not even in a top 30 market. KVMY-KVCW makes no sense to me, and neither does WSTR. I don't think Fox is dissatisfied enough with KVVU or WXIX to dump them, nor do there seem to be any bizarre corporate politics like those which likely initiated Fox's purchase of WJZY-WMYT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidwestTV 1173 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Yeah I have to agree about WDAF. Out of all the companies, I see Sinclair (sadly) getting them, but that could just be because they were the first company we heard about being seriously interested in all of Local TV to start off with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundershock MN 169 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Umm-Hmmm! I bet you that Capitol didn't want to leave Charlotte either. Even though the folks in WRAL-town will never publicly admit it, to me that had to be the major factor. If they didn't go through with it, Fox would've followed through with that Sinclair option to get WLFL/WRDC (and to me that would've been the better option than the Vegas, Hampton Roads & Cincy options). So It was a win-win for Fox either way. What shocked me was the price of those two stations ($18M) was relative short, I know these stations are probably the lowest-rated stations in Charlotte, but Capitol could've gotten more for those two stations. I'm going to repost my speculations on that buyer/sellers thread soon. Of course I have to do some alterations, since the announcements of two big mergers within the last two weeks. But I'm going to speculate this for short. I don't think Fox will come back to any of the markets that they sold. If they were dumb enough to sell it so they can get more dough to get that Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, why come back and buy the stations that you sold in the first place. You could've just never sold it off in the first place? They already sold another station, since they sold those Fox stations. They sold WUTB to Sinclair, and now they have a triplestick in their home turf. And even if the ownerships change hands in between different groups, I don't think these pairs will be broken (WTKR/WGNT & WTVR), (WREG & WHNT) and (WDAF & KTVI). I don't think Fox really wanted to sell most of those stations. Rupert had a woody for Dow Jones/WSJ and overpaid. So, they needed to devest to pay down some of the debt. I think it was really a combo stations who's valuation worked for the buyer at the time and would raise the needed amount of cash. For example I'm sure Fox would have loved to have kept KDVR & KTVI and parted with WHBQ & KTBC instead. But, the cash flow of WHBQ & KTBC is nowhere near KDVR & KTVI. And, some combo of stations Fox was willing to sell that would allow them to keep KDVR & KTVI didn't interest the buyer. So, i'm sure begrudgingly off they went. I have a belief that WUTB was always kept around to keep Sinclair in check at affilate negotiation time. They always had it in their back pocket that if Sinclair didn't want to agree to whatever they wanted (ie: reverse compensation, etc.) they could lose the Fox affliation in their hometown. Fox must have felt it served it's purpose no longer needing it and moved on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jterry 43 Posted June 21, 2013 Author Share Posted June 21, 2013 I'm going to repost my speculations on that buyer/sellers thread soon. Of course I have to do some alterations, since the announcements of two big mergers within the last two weeks. But I'm going to speculate this for short. I don't think Fox will come back to any of the markets that they sold. If they were dumb enough to sell it so they can get more dough to get that Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, why come back and buy the stations that you sold in the first place. You could've just never sold it off in the first place? They already sold another station, since they sold those Fox stations. They sold WUTB to Sinclair, and now they have a triplestick in their home turf. And I still think Fox will unload Memphis' WHBQ in the future. And even if the ownerships change hands in between different groups, I don't think these pairs will be broken (WTKR/WGNT & WTVR), (WREG & WHNT) and (WDAF & KTVI). I've been expecting Fox to try and sell WHBQ again for a while now. It's become evident in the last year that they're not putting much investment into them anymore, as opposed to the period from '06 to '10 when there were many upgrades and programming expansions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 I think the only reason they didn't put KTBC on the block was because it was in the same state as KDFW and KRIV, much larger operations that it made sense to keep KTBC in the fold with (Austin being the capital of Texas). I eventually came to that Sinclair-blackmail conclusion with WUTB as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 I eventually came to that Sinclair-blackmail conclusion with WUTB as well. HAHAHA!!! :rofl!: Yep!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 TVNewsCheck is posting that, today (6/21/13) is the deadline to place the final bids on the Local TV, LLC stations. So it might not be too long before we find out which group will getting which station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 I doubt Nexstar will get all of them, since that would be so far beyond their price range. I agree that Sinclair is seriously in play, as are piecemeal deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRob 920 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 I think you have until the close of business today. Submit those bids, people! I'm not high on the idea of more cost-cutting at the hands of Sinclair or Nexstar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Maybe it was a deadline to get group bids in? Then perhaps they go individually if no one bids? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRob 920 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Maybe it was a deadline to get group bids in? Then perhaps they go individually if no one bids? I'm just being a snark. I really don't know what to expect, but my co-workers seem resigned to the possibility of worse ownership. We'll just have to wait and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jterry 43 Posted June 21, 2013 Author Share Posted June 21, 2013 Interesting that TVNewsCheck seems it's likely the group goes as whole. Really the only group I could/would see taking them whole is Sinclair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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