Sinclair...Again

[GoldenShine9 1513]

The Sinclair Fan Club (TVNewsCheck) put out a story this morning giving the scenario whether KOMO can become the top rated news station in Seattle. I think we'll see the Mariners (or the Cubs, for that matter) win the World Series before this happens:

 

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/76583/komo-ups-pressure-to-unseat-king-in-news

Being a 4th place news operation is more likely IMO, unless Cox and Tribune neglect (or sell off) KIRO and KCPQ, respectively.

[NewsMaster 226]

 

I think we'll see the Mariners (or the Cubs, for that matter) win the World Series before this happens:

 

Or the D-backs with the way they're playing right now.

 

I did some research and I believe I found the building that SBG bought in El Paso for KDBC and KFOX. Here it is: http://goo.gl/maps/dREIq

[bammy9 26]

 

I did some research and I believe I found the building that SBG bought in El Paso for KDBC and KFOX. Here it is: http://goo.gl/maps/dREIq

 

I'm not sure if this is going to be an upgrade or downgrade for KFOX, but it is a BIG upgrade for KDBC. Since ComCorp entered into their agreement with KDBC, they've been anchoring from what used to be a storage closet..

[Mrtraveler01 738]

Being a 4th place news operation is more likely IMO, unless Cox and Tribune neglect (or sell off) KIRO and KCPQ, respectively.

Not to mention KING. Gannett takes care of some of their stations.

[sanewsguy 511]

Again it's the typical users who always bash Sinclair just because they're the biggest. Sinclair is investing the resources needed to bring KOMO up to par. It's news to me Sinclair is in the process of building them a new set. Do I think they'll beat KING? It's likely. KING only gets their viewers because of loyalty. I don't care for their product that much--it reeks of consultants. KOMO OTOH, puts out an excellent product. Management at both stations is the same as before. The personalities KOMO has may be no-names to those not living in the Seattle market, but I'm sure they are well-recognized within Seattle. Journalism is what matters the most. Both do a decent job at it, but KOMO does it better.

[Jess 1115]

Holly Gauntt was news director at WTTG and WTXF - now she's at KOMO. Specifically, she was ND when WTXF began to significantly expand its product and when they had probably the best talent lineup in the city at the time. Then they fired her, hired Renda and Kingsley, and it all went to hell.

 

You know what... I kind of believe her. While this station buying spree still doesn't feel like it will end well for Sinclair, I do get the feeling they're run a bit different this time. The difference here is, Sinclair has done a lot of odious corporate-level stuff in the past - they haven't earned the right to be trusted.

[TVIntheDesert 183]

 

Holly Gauntt was news director at WTTG and WTXF - now she's at KOMO. Specifically, she was ND when WTXF began to significantly expand its product and when they had probably the best talent lineup in the city at the time. Then they fired her, hired Renda and Kingsley, and it all went to hell.

 

You know what... I kind of believe her. While this station buying spree still doesn't feel like it will end well for Sinclair, I do get the feeling they're run a bit different this time. The difference here is, Sinclair has done a lot of odious corporate-level stuff in the past - they haven't earned the right to be trusted.

 

This is Seattle we're talking about. One of the most politically blue metropolitan areas in the country. Sinclair isn't going to just throw away their corporate playbook at one station to gain superiority in that market. To succeed, especially in the city itself, they've got to distance the station from whatever they do elsewhere. The Mark Hyman commentaries work in Salt Lake City, since that market, to a degree, shares the same values as corporate. They just won't fly in places like Portland (the one in Oregon) and Seattle.

[TVIntheDesert 183]

 

Again it's the typical users who always bash Sinclair just because they're the biggest. Sinclair is investing the resources needed to bring KOMO up to par. It's news to me Sinclair is in the process of building them a new set. Do I think they'll beat KING? It's likely. KING only gets their viewers because of loyalty. I don't care for their product that much--it reeks of consultants. KOMO OTOH, puts out an excellent product. Management at both stations is the same as before. The personalities KOMO has may be no-names to those not living in the Seattle market, but I'm sure they are well-recognized within Seattle. Journalism is what matters the most. Both do a decent job at it, but KOMO does it better.

 

Being the largest in something doesn't mean they're the best. Clear Channel is the largest radio company, but they put out a mediocre (fair, at best) product company-wide. Sinclair, at least at their legacy (pre-Four Points) stations, have the same cookie-cutter, top-down mentality as their radio counterparts. If they spend a ton of $$$ just to keep KOMO competitive (that means stay away for the most part from the one-man-band model, which runs rampant throughout the company and others--including Gannett), the other stations in the chain aren't going to like the lack of attention they're getting.

[bhratbrat 437]

I know it's weird but newschannel8 is showing the gubvernatiobal debate via wbff.

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

Again it's the typical users who always bash Sinclair just because they're the biggest. Sinclair is investing the resources needed to bring KOMO up to par. It's news to me Sinclair is in the process of building them a new set. Do I think they'll beat KING? It's likely. KING only gets their viewers because of loyalty. I don't care for their product that much--it reeks of consultants. KOMO OTOH, puts out an excellent product. Management at both stations is the same as before. The personalities KOMO has may be no-names to those not living in the Seattle market, but I'm sure they are well-recognized within Seattle. Journalism is what matters the most. Both do a decent job at it, but KOMO does it better.

 

The ones that have been retiring or moving to other stations in the market? KOMO just lost Dan Lewis who was one of their biggest anchors, that's a big gap to fill.

 

 

 

At the same time, Gauntt says, Sinclair asked her what she needed “to be the No. 1 station in the market.” They responded, building the station’s first new set in 15 years and buying loads of equipment including three cellular bonded units, a satellite truck, new computers and five cars.

That stuff does help with the news gathering process, and it is nice to see Sinclair actually open up their wallets to make those kinds of investments, but all of that doesn't matter if you don't change the content to better compete with KING's style of journalism.

[Samantha 2895]

Sinclair has a structural problem it needs to face down.

 

Before Acquisitions (B.A.) the top-down model made sense. Sinclair ran tight station clusters, and the NewsCentral-based infrastructure brought many of these stations closer to Hunt Valley.

 

After Acquisitions (A.A.) Sinclair owns so many stations in diverse media markets that it cannot afford to continue this structure. Sinclair is starting to delineate different regions, and it needs to accelerate the process.

 

SBG has the size to offer stations certain large-scale assets. What it needs to do is be able to understand and operate television stations on a regional level. Here, I'll even propose a model to divide Sinclair into five regions. I've even bolded one city in each region to serve as a possible hub city. Includes Allbritton, New Age and WGXA:

 

Western Region (14): CA (Bakersfield, Fresno), CO (Colorado Springs), ID (Boise, Lewiston), NV (Las Vegas, Reno), OR (Bend, Eugene, Medford, Portland), UT (Salt Lake City), WA (Seattle, Yakima)

Central Region (15): AR (Little Rock), KS (Wichita), MO (Cape Girardeau, Jefferson City, Hannibal, Kirksville, St. Louis), OK (Oklahoma City, Tulsa), TX (Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont, El Paso, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio)

Southeast Region (15): AL (Birmingham, Mobile), FL (Gainesville, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Tampa, West Palm Beach), GA (Macon, Albany), NC (Asheville*), SC (Charleston, Columbia, Myrtle Beach), TN (Chattanooga, Nashville)

Atlantic Region (18): DC (Washington), MD (Baltimore), ME (Portland), NY (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse), NC (Raleigh, Winston-Salem), PA (Harrisburg, Johnstown, Pittsburgh, Scranton), VA (Hampton Roads, Lynchburg, Richmond), WV (Charleston)

Midwest Region (19): IA (Iowa City, Des Moines, Sioux City), IL (Champaign, Peoria), KY (Lexington), MI (Flint, Grand Rapids, Marquette, Traverse City), MN (Minneapolis), NE (Omaha), OH (Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Steubenville, Toledo), WI (Madison, Milwaukee)

 

In this case, I've chosen cities where Sinclair has either owned a station for a long time (Birmingham, Baltimore, Columbus) or that are major cities (Seattle, Austin).

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

Sinclair has a structural problem it needs to face down.

 

Before Acquisitions (B.A.) the top-down model made sense. Sinclair ran tight station clusters, and the NewsCentral-based infrastructure brought many of these stations closer to Hunt Valley.

 

After Acquisitions (A.A.) Sinclair owns so many stations in diverse media markets that it cannot afford to continue this structure. Sinclair is starting to delineate different regions, and it needs to accelerate the process.

 

SBG has the size to offer stations certain large-scale assets. What it needs to do is be able to understand and operate television stations on a regional level. Here, I'll even propose a model to divide Sinclair into five regions. I've even bolded one city in each region to serve as a possible hub city. Includes Allbritton, New Age and WGXA:

 

Western Region (14): CA (Bakersfield, Fresno), CO (Colorado Springs), ID (Boise, Lewiston), NV (Las Vegas, Reno), OR (Bend, Eugene, Medford, Portland), UT (Salt Lake City), WA (Seattle, Yakima)

Central Region (15): AR (Little Rock), KS (Wichita), MO (Cape Girardeau, Jefferson City, Hannibal, Kirksville, St. Louis), OK (Oklahoma City, Tulsa), TX (Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont, El Paso, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio)

Southeast Region (15): AL (Birmingham, Mobile), FL (Gainesville, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Tampa, West Palm Beach), GA (Macon, Albany), NC (Asheville*), SC (Charleston, Columbia, Myrtle Beach), TN (Chattanooga, Nashville)

Atlantic Region (18): DC (Washington), MD (Baltimore), ME (Portland), NY (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse), NC (Raleigh, Winston-Salem), PA (Harrisburg, Johnstown, Pittsburgh, Scranton), VA (Hampton Roads, Lynchburg, Richmond), WV (Charleston)

Midwest Region (19): IA (Iowa City, Des Moines, Sioux City), IL (Champaign, Peoria), KY (Lexington), MI (Flint, Grand Rapids, Marquette, Traverse City), MN (Minneapolis), NE (Omaha), OH (Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Steubenville, Toledo), WI (Madison, Milwaukee)

 

In this case, I've chosen cities where Sinclair has either owned a station for a long time (Birmingham, Baltimore, Columbus) or that are major cities (Seattle, Austin).

 

 

I'm wondering if it makes more sense to sort the stations by market size rather than geographic region. Because running KOMO is going to be way different than running KTVO.

[Samantha 2895]

 

I'm wondering if it makes more sense to sort the stations by market size rather than geographic region. Because running KOMO is going to be way different than running KTVO.

 

Sinclair already has something like that with their Chesapeake Television small-market division.

[sanewsguy 511]

 

Sinclair has a structural problem it needs to face down.

 

Before Acquisitions (B.A.) the top-down model made sense. Sinclair ran tight station clusters, and the NewsCentral-based infrastructure brought many of these stations closer to Hunt Valley.

 

After Acquisitions (A.A.) Sinclair owns so many stations in diverse media markets that it cannot afford to continue this structure. Sinclair is starting to delineate different regions, and it needs to accelerate the process.

 

SBG has the size to offer stations certain large-scale assets. What it needs to do is be able to understand and operate television stations on a regional level. Here, I'll even propose a model to divide Sinclair into five regions. I've even bolded one city in each region to serve as a possible hub city. Includes Allbritton, New Age and WGXA:

 

Western Region (14): CA (Bakersfield, Fresno), CO (Colorado Springs), ID (Boise, Lewiston), NV (Las Vegas, Reno), OR (Bend, Eugene, Medford, Portland), UT (Salt Lake City), WA (Seattle, Yakima)

Central Region (15): AR (Little Rock), KS (Wichita), MO (Cape Girardeau, Jefferson City, Hannibal, Kirksville, St. Louis), OK (Oklahoma City, Tulsa), TX (Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont, El Paso, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio)

Southeast Region (15): AL (Birmingham, Mobile), FL (Gainesville, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Tampa, West Palm Beach), GA (Macon, Albany), NC (Asheville*), SC (Charleston, Columbia, Myrtle Beach), TN (Chattanooga, Nashville)

Atlantic Region (18): DC (Washington), MD (Baltimore), ME (Portland), NY (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse), NC (Raleigh, Winston-Salem), PA (Harrisburg, Johnstown, Pittsburgh, Scranton), VA (Hampton Roads, Lynchburg, Richmond), WV (Charleston)

Midwest Region (19): IA (Iowa City, Des Moines, Sioux City), IL (Champaign, Peoria), KY (Lexington), MI (Flint, Grand Rapids, Marquette, Traverse City), MN (Minneapolis), NE (Omaha), OH (Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Steubenville, Toledo), WI (Madison, Milwaukee)

 

In this case, I've chosen cities where Sinclair has either owned a station for a long time (Birmingham, Baltimore, Columbus) or that are major cities (Seattle, Austin).

 

Why would you have Austin as the hub for the Texas region? John Seabers (WOAI/KABB GM) oversees all of the Sinclair stations in Texas and he is a life-long San Antonian. Also San Antonio is much bigger than Austin. On top of that, KABB/KMYS were their only stations in Texas pre-buying binge.

 

 

The ones that have been retiring or moving to other stations in the market? KOMO just lost Dan Lewis who was one of their biggest anchors, that's a big gap to fill.

 

No, the ones there now. Like Mary Nam, Eric Johnson, Brad Goode (who used to work at KING). You wouldn't say they're recognizable?

[Samantha 2895]

 

Why would you have Austin as the hub for the Texas region? John Seabers (WOAI/KABB GM) oversees all of the Sinclair stations in Texas and he is a life-long San Antonian. Also San Antonio is much bigger than Austin. On top of that, KABB/KMYS were their only stations in Texas pre-buying binge.

 

I figured Austin would make a logical hub as it would also feed a lot of Texas stations with state capitol coverage, but San Antonio would have been my other pick.

[Samantha 2895]

With time running out, Sinclair is proposing drastic changes to the Allbritton deal. With no buyers found for WABM or WMMP, a new letter crossed this morning, and Sinclair is going to the nuclear option:

 

Birmingham: Sinclair would surrender the licenses of WCFT and WJSU to be cancelled. Sinclair would retain WTTO and WABM, and it would use WABM to multicast WBMA. In effect, Sinclair gets rid of the pesky full-power ABC affiliate(s).

 

Charleston: Sinclair would surrender the license of WCIV. The LMA to Cunningham for WTAT would be terminated. WMMP and WCIV would be multicast.

 

Harrisburg: Sinclair is now proposing a sale of WHTM in which it would keep WHP and operate WLYH.

 

In other words, Sinclair has given up on WHTM, and in order to keep WMMP and WABM, it would shut down the full-power stations being acquired from Allbritton. This is not a good move. Sinclair's desperation is showing.

 

I just looked at the service contours of WBMA, WABM, WCFT and WJSU. Neither of the latter two are appropriate to cover the whole market alone, and WBMA doesn't even reach Tuscaloosa or Anniston. WABM's full-service signal is comparable to WIAT. My question: Would Sinclair then reverse WBMA and WABM to make MyNetworkTV low-power and ABC full-power on one station in Birmingham?

[news89 468]

 

With time running out, Sinclair is proposing drastic changes to the Allbritton deal. With no buyers found for WABM or WMMP, a new letter crossed this morning, and Sinclair is going to the nuclear option:

 

Birmingham: Sinclair would surrender the licenses of WCFT and WJSU to be cancelled. Sinclair would retain WTTO and WABM, and it would use WABM to multicast WBMA. In effect, Sinclair gets rid of the pesky full-power ABC affiliate.

 

Charleston: Sinclair would surrender the license of WCIV. The LMA to Cunningham for WTAT would be terminated. WMMP and WCIV would be multicast.

 

Harrisburg: Sinclair is now proposing a sale of WHTM in which it would keep WHP and operate WLYH.

 

In other words, Sinclair has given up on WHTM, and in order to keep WMMP and WABM, it would shut down the full-power stations being acquired from Allbritton. This is not a good move. Sinclair's desperation is showing.

 

The deal should be put in file 13 where Sinclair needs to go. I live in Sinclair market myself, you should see the "Readers' Voice" column in the Charleston Gazette about WCHS/WVAH. I wish Gary would get ahold of WBMA/WCFT/WJSU and WEST. Let Hearst get KTUL, and KATV. WHTM,and WCIV to Meridith. WJLA/NC8 to Scripps.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

The FCC needs to step in and cancel the deal, or Allbritton needs to walk away. Let someone else buy them. So Allbritton goes back on the market it presumes...

[CircleSeven 1955]

This shit is getting out of hand.

 

GoldenShine9 brought a speculative point some days ago. And I didn't realized this but it kind of makes sense:

 

I would expect Sinclair to sue the FCC or DOJ if the deal dies on them though, and I could see them suing Allbritton if they walk away before July 27.

That's probably the reason why the DOJ haven't threw that consent decree on them, like what happened with that Carma situation a few years back. Maybe because they're fearing that they'll probably counter and sue them, if they do so.

 

You can tell this is a really desperate move, because not only they want this deal to be approved, but they probably know that the FCC wants unused spectrum for their auctions. But this shit is a real dumb move because, why would you want to turn off two television stations, where you would alienate the viewers who'd live in each of the far eastern & western fringes of their stations. I think the public really needs to hear about this plan in Alabama because folks in the far fringes would not be thrilled about what they're going to do with their ABC signal (even if it might please the FCC because it would be more spectrum they'll probably have for the wireless). This is worst than their proposed, WHTM & WHP frequency swap (which I strongly thought you have to have a separate, very lengthy, PRM for that).

 

So since we do have 59 days left, I think the wise thing for the DOJ/FTC, the FCC and Allbritton is to don't make any further movement until after the July 27 outside date. Just sit there and wait the next eight weeks, and let the Heathens of Hunt Valley fall on their own pile of shit.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Good point about waiting, that might be smartest. Sinclair would likely sue them if they do shove it down. They are extremely aggressive...

 

I have this feeling Allbritton might be quietly talking to others (such as Hearst, Scripps and Meredith mentioned previously) and may announce a deal on July 28, likely with a side deal due to conflicts.

 

All Sinclair wants to do now is shut the competition down it sounds like.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

This also brings up the thought that Belo and Local TV REALLY dodged huge bullets. In the spring of 2013, Sinclair was seen as the top candidate for Local TV before Tribune beat them (http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/blog/2013/05/owner-of-milwaukees-cw-station-might.html?page=all). Also, in October, Sinclair tried to snatch Belo from the shareholders and Gannett when that deal was having some difficulty (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-09/sinclair-seen-weighing-gray-takeover-after-losing-belo-real-m-a.html). Both deals passed and were completed in December with all complications accounted for (Gannett gave up KMOV immediately instead of fighting back a losing cause, while Tribune/Local TV was fairly clean). Had Sinclair got either of them, most likely the deals would still be in flux right now.

 

LIN and Media General aren't even willing to fight at this point, they already put the conflicts up for sale.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

Birmingham: Sinclair would surrender the licenses of WCFT and WJSU to be cancelled. Sinclair would retain WTTO and WABM, and it would use WABM to multicast WBMA. In effect, Sinclair gets rid of the pesky full-power ABC affiliate(s).

 

Birmingham alone makes this a no-go and likely will be laughed out of the FCC offices. I find it difficult to see this going forward in any way.

[CircleSeven 1955]

Reaction from FCC commissioners Pai & O'Rielly on this latest move.

 

When the Commission voted to restrict television broadcasters’ use of joint sales

agreements (JSAs), we warned that this decision would lead to “less ownership diversity” and

“more television stations going out of business.” Unfortunately, just two months later, this is

coming to pass.

 

Today, Sinclair Television Group announced its intent to surrender to the Commission

for cancellation three television station licenses in the Charleston, South Carolina and

Birmingham, Alabama markets. Sinclair reported that it was unable to find a viable buyer for

any of these stations. As a result, it appears that these three stations will soon be going dark.

 

It didn’t have to be this way. Prior to the Commission’s decision to restrict the use of

JSAs, Sinclair had a viable buyer for stations in Charleston and Birmingham: Howard Stirk

Holdings (HSH), an African-American owned broadcaster. That deal, however, fell through

because of the Commission’s decision to stop Sinclair from entering into JSAs with HSH.

 

So what has the Commission’s decision wrought? Instead of increasing the number of

African-American-owned television stations, we are driving stations off the air. This will mean

job losses, less service to South Carolinians and Alabamians, and less ownership diversity. We

do not see how such an outcome possibly serves the public interest, and we hope that the

Commission will take action immediately to correct its misguided restrictions on JSAs.

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

It didn’t have to be this way. Prior to the Commission’s decision to restrict the use of

JSAs, Sinclair had a viable buyer for stations in Charleston and Birmingham: Howard Stirk

Holdings (HSH), an African-American owned broadcaster. That deal, however, fell through

because of the Commission’s decision to stop Sinclair from entering into JSAs with HSH.

 

So what has the Commission’s decision wrought? Instead of increasing the number of

African-American-owned television stations, we are driving stations off the air. This will mean

job losses, less service to South Carolinians and Alabamians, and less ownership diversity. We

do not see how such an outcome possibly serves the public interest, and we hope that the

Commission will take action immediately to correct its misguided restrictions on JSAs.

 

Give me a break! Are they really trying to convince people that there were absolutely no other buyers for full-power ABC stations in markets like Charleston and Birmingham?

 

And are they still trying to convince people that Howard Stirk is independent from Sinclair?

 

Looks like Sinclair is trying to play hard ball and are really sucking at it. How can people take these clowns seriously?

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Give me a break! Are they really trying to convince people that there were absolutely no other buyers for full-power ABC stations in markets like Charleston and Birmingham?

 

And are they still trying to convince people that Howard Stirk is independent from Sinclair?

 

Looks like Sinclair is trying to play hard ball and are really sucking at it. How can people take these clowns seriously?

They had no buyers for WMMP or WABM (the stations they were trying to sell), but those are very marginal stations in their markets anyway and who would want them as a standalone? They would qualify for failing station waivers in that case! And yes, HSH is definitely a Sinclair shell and not a legitimate broadcaster.

 

I am sure the employees at the Allbritton stations - especially in the conflict markets - can't wait for July 28 for this soap opera to reach a conclusion.