Sinclair...Again

[hathawaynson2 39]

Now the Department of Justice is issuing a "Second Request" asking Sinclair & Allbritton more info about the proposed acquisition on the Charleston & Harrisburg properties.

 

I guess they forgot about Birmingham...or they probably not worried about Birmingham...

 

...Well Anywho, this is the second time this summer that the DOJ asked for the Second Request on a planned merger. On August 23, the DOJ issued a "Second Request" on the merger between Gannett & Belo.

either the department of justice forgot to add Birmingham , the whole deal is still on?

[CircleSeven 1955]

 

either the department of justice forgot to add Birmingham , the whole deal is still on?

 

I think they're checking out the deal as a whole. But on that release posted by SBG, it makes me think they think that they're focus solely on Charleston, SC & Harrisburg ones only. In any event, it will take a minute until they come up with their clearance. If they didn't issue a "second request", they would've issued an "early termination", similar to the Sinclair/Fisher, and the Tribune/Local TV.

 

And even if we haven't had this Government Shutdown, these deals wouldn't be approved all the quickly so....... we would be waiting anyways. And lets not forget several deny petitions after the FCC docketing the latest deals. That's what I think that's slowing up the process.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

 

I think they're checking out the deal as a whole. But on that release posted by SBG, it makes me think they think that they're focus solely on Charleston, SC & Harrisburg ones only. In any event, it will take a minute until they come up with their clearance. If they didn't issue a "second request", they would've issued an "early termination", similar to the Sinclair/Fisher, and the Tribune/Local TV.

 

And even if we haven't had this Government Shutdown, these deals wouldn't be approved all the quickly so....... we would be waiting anyways. And lets not forget several deny petitions after the FCC docketing the latest deals. That's what I think that's slowing up the process.

 

Of the springtime deals, I think Media General-Young should be the first to get approved, since there were no conflicts there. It might get done shortly after the shutdown ends.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

Of the springtime deals, I think Media General-Young should be the first to get approved, since there were no conflicts there. It might get done shortly after the shutdown ends.

Depending on how long the process goes with Tribune spinning off their newspaper division (which is the only hold-up in the Tribune/Local TV deal) having the FCC in shutdown mode only affords Tribune more time to get that process over with.

[CircleSeven 1955]

The same can be said for WHAM/WUHF. Sinclair is likely to take back WUHF since they now own WHAM. This document from WUHF's public file states their agreement with Nexstar will expire on December 31st.

https://stations.fcc.gov/collect/files/413/Joint%20sales%20agreements/Joint%20Sales%20Agreement%20Modification%20(13577615024863).pdf

 

I said this on the Newport thread, since Sinclair proper owns WUHF and has since acquired WHAM, it would be dumb for Sinclair to not move WUHF to the WHAM facilities. Nexstar will still have work ahead of them since they hub five other Upstate NY markets, and the former Smith Vermont stations. If 31 do move to 13, 8 shouldn't lose any sleep in not producing a 10pm news. They'll probably be the better hand in all of this. Sinclair will have to do the heavy lifting. And I don't think 13 is going to voluntarily give 8 the CW affiliation. And Nexstar aren't to keen (in a heavy degree) to having subchannels (yet they do air Bounce TV on 8.2). If anything, Sinclair can move the CW from to 31, just have more bandwidth bits on 13. And of course, disband the 10pm news & probably the morning news on the CW and move it all to Fox 31, as I also said on that thread.

And as expected... WUHF will be moving to 13WHAM, on the first of the year.

 

The Democrat & Chronicle stated last night, WHAM will produce the 10pm news on WUHF Fox 31, starting January 1st. The program will be named "13 WHAM News at 10 on Fox Rochester". WHAM's morning newscast that air after 7am on 13.2 will also move to WUHF, and will be renamed "Good Day Rochester". Syndie shows will replace the dropped morning and evening newscasts on the CW subchannel. So unless WROC or WHEC start producing news on its subs, there will be no newscast competition at 10pm. WHAM also stated that they also hired nine more personnel for this expansion.

 

This of course comes ten months after Deerfield Media acquired WHAM from Newport Television, and as WUHF's 8+ year-LMA with Nexstar's WROC expires on December 31st. So this was highly expected to happen.

 

Nexstar shouldn't lose any sleep with all of this. That's one LMA down. Will it happen in the other cities too?

[hathawaynson2 39]

And as expected... WUHF will be moving to 13WHAM, on the first of the year.

 

The Demorcrat & Chronicle stated last night, WHAM will produce the 10pm news on WUHF Fox 31, starting January 1st. The program will be named "13 WHAM News at 10 on Fox Rochester". WHAM's morning newscast that air after 7am on 13.2 will also move to WUHF, and will be renamed "Good Day Rochester". Syndie shows will replace the dropped morning and evening newscasts on the CW subchannel. So unless WROC or WHEC start producing news on its subs, there will be no newscast competition at 10pm. WHAM also stated that they also hired nine more personnel for this expansion.

 

This of course comes ten months after Deerfield Media acquired WHAM from Newport Television, and as WUHF's 8+ year-LMA with Nexstar's WROC expires on December 31st. So this was highly expected to happen.

 

Nexstar shouldn't lose any sleep with all of this. That's one LMA down. Will it happen in the other cities too?

I might ask the obious question, since Sinclair is the owner of the fox afffilate, is wuhf going to be the senior partner in the WHAM LMA or outright ownership?

[broadcastfan9751 140]

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Sinclair, along with Fox, and Local TV, have filed a lawsuit against Barry Diller's Aereo in Utah, claiming that it is retransmitting its stations without permission.

[sanewsguy 511]

 

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Sinclair, along with Fox, and Local TV, have filed a lawsuit against Barry Diller's Aereo in Utah, claiming that it is retransmitting its stations without permission.

 

Why would Fox file suit? They don't even own KSTU anymore. Nexstar has already said they don't care about Aereo and don't see it as a threat (can't find the article but Perry Sook said so in an interview).

 

I think this is stupid though. Hope Aereo wins. They should be able to retransmit the stations that be received over the air. Broadcasters are just trying to get more retrans revenue out of this but I don't think their strategy will work.

[A3N 1002]

 

Why would Fox file suit? They don't even own KSTU anymore. Nexstar has already said they don't care about Aereo and don't see it as a threat (can't find the article but Perry Sook said so in an interview).

 

I think this is stupid though. Hope Aereo wins. They should be able to retransmit the stations that be received over the air. Broadcasters are just trying to get more retrans revenue out of this but I don't think their strategy will work.

 

It was mentioned in another thread, but FOX handled LocalTV's FOX affiliate retransmission negotiations, so that could be a reason why. Also, Tribune hasn't taken over the Local TV portfolio, so i'm not sure how much legal authority they would have to sue Aereo.

[Thundershock MN 169]

 

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Sinclair, along with Fox, and Local TV, have filed a lawsuit against Barry Diller's Aereo in Utah, claiming that it is retransmitting its stations without permission.

 

 

Why would Fox file suit? They don't even own KSTU anymore. Nexstar has already said they don't care about Aereo and don't see it as a threat (can't find the article but Perry Sook said so in an interview).

 

I think this is stupid though. Hope Aereo wins. They should be able to retransmit the stations that be received over the air. Broadcasters are just trying to get more retrans revenue out of this but I don't think their strategy will work.

 

 

It was mentioned in another thread, but FOX handled LocalTV's FOX affiliate retransmission negotiations, so that could be a reason why. Also, Tribune hasn't taken over the Local TV portfolio, so i'm not sure how much legal authority they would have to sue Aereo.

 

I felt compelled to reply to this. But, at the risk of de-railing this thread with Aereo discussion I posted my reply in a new thread.

 

Hopefully, that's ok.

[Leavellebrett 85]

 

I'm trying to get my hands around if WHP will soon be known as "Local 21 News" because......

 

Their website is local21news.com and now....

 

Their facebook page is titled Local 21 CBS News, WHP Harrisburg..... (kind of unwieldy....don't you think?)

 

yet all the while, the CBS 21 News logo is prominently featured on all their pages. :bang:

 

Either they're planning an overhaul of their branding, (or not....) or it's just part of the hot mess that their internet department has become after the relaunch of most of their sites from newly-acquired stations in their current form...

 

It's only going to get worse if they don't add the staff when they multiply the stations they could soon be controlling...

 

I was just going to post something about this. I noticed that the other day. Their CBS 21 logo also had a change about 6 months ago and they lost the KGPE/WTEV red and black colors and is now basic silver.

[Breaking News 829]

Everybody be glad that Sinclair didn't buy Belo Stations and here why;

 

10.10.13 Newsblues Headline

Sinclair tried to undercut Gannett's bid for Belo

 

Here the latest from bloomberg

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-09/sinclair-seen-weighing-gray-takeover-after-losing-belo-real-m-a.html

[CircleSeven 1955]

I'm happy that didn't happen. Sinclair would really drive down the quality of the Belo stations for sure.

 

I hope they don't touch Gray, Raycom or LIN. They already have too damn much. But then you have to wonder how quick they want to get these deals done this before the FCC issues that R&O of that ruling, officially ending that UHF discount, which I think that would be delayed since the current shutdown.

[mike91 67]

 

Everybody be glad that Sinclair didn't buy Belo Stations and here why;

 

10.10.13 Newsblues Headline

Sinclair tried to undercut Gannett's bid for Belo

 

Here the latest from bloomberg

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-09/sinclair-seen-weighing-gray-takeover-after-losing-belo-real-m-a.html

 

Oh god, that would be horrible. First of all, it would give my market (Charlotte) it's first Sinclair station. Second, of all, there would be HUGE overlap. If you think this one was bad in Phoenix and St. Louis, this one would have Boise, St. Louis, Portland, Austin, San Antonio (in a HUGE way), Hampton Roads (probably the only sane one out of the bunch) and Seattle. Gonna put that one in the never gonna happen category if the FCC is having the problems approving the current Belo/Gannett and Allbritton/Sinclair deals, they would shit bricks at that one.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

 

Oh god, that would be horrible. First of all, it would give my market (Charlotte) it's first Sinclair station. Second, of all, there would be HUGE overlap. If you think this one was bad in Phoenix and St. Louis, this one would have Boise, St. Louis, Portland, Austin, San Antonio (in a HUGE way), Hampton Roads (probably the only sane one out of the bunch) and Seattle. Gonna put that one in the never gonna happen category if the FCC is having the problems approving the current Belo/Gannett and Allbritton/Sinclair deals, they would shit bricks at that one.

 

I am sure their competitors would have been in such glee...thank God that Gannett was able to beat them out! I wonder if Sinclair played for Young and Media General as well before their merger?

 

If LIN and Gray are selling, I hope other companies go talk to them now before Sinclair gets a chance. Raycom and Gray would be the best match for a complete merger (5 conflicts but mostly minor - no really clean deals for either of them available considering the market sizes), while LIN would probably fit best with Scripps (if they are buying) or Hearst, who have 1 and 2 conflicts, respectively. Time is of the essence though...

[tyrannical bastard 3953]

Gray would have a major conflict in Charleston-Huntington......WSAZ.

 

The sheer market share this station commands there would make a triopoly with WCHS and WVAH virtually impossible.

[broadcastfan9751 140]

 

Gray would have a major conflict in Charleston-Huntington......WSAZ.

 

The sheer market share this station commands there would make a triopoly with WCHS and WVAH virtually impossible.

 

And on top of that, WCHS is #2 in the market, so that would make for a virtual monopoly.

[CircleSeven 1955]

 

And on top of that, WCHS is #2 in the market, so that would make for a virtual monopoly.

 

The two others are WVMH's WOWK (CBS) & Lockwood's WQCW (CW). So it wouldn't be a full market takeover, that would be pretty close.

[Samantha 2895]

Wow. That would have been quite a coup for Sinclair in their transformation from a small-scale media company into a large-market powerhouse.

 

But it would probably have been denied. Too many conflicts.

[NewsMaster 226]

 

I'm happy that didn't happen. Sinclair would really drive down the quality of the Belo stations for sure.

 

I hope they don't touch Gray, Raycom or LIN. They already have too damn much. But then you have to wonder how quick they want to get these deals done this before the FCC issues that R&O of that ruling, officially ending that UHF discount, which I think that would be delayed since the current shutdown.

 

If the UHF discount is eliminated, than it shouldn't be since Sinclair would be decimal points shy of the 39% line and buying any of the aforementioned groups would easily put them over the top.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Our own Raymie is turning out to be one smart fellow there...for outsmarting Sinclair and telling the truth when they tried to deny it!

[Samantha 2895]

I read through the Free Press petition yesterday. Petitions to deny are *much* more involved than I realized—affidavits, statements of standing, delivering copies, etc.

 

However, my argument stands. What SBGI is doing is extralegal—it's legal by the letter of the law but probably not to the spirit of the law. This "company that has bought, bought and then bought some more" — they were denied on two big acquisitions. Denied by Belo shareholders, and denied by Local TV LLC.

[channel2 979]

I do wonder if LIN's going to sell. They're private equity-backed (HM Capital Partners owns a huge chunk of stock, albeit most of it being of a non-voting variety), and there were rumblings that they were talking to Meredith about a merger...

[GoldenShine9 1513]

I'm wondering if Sinclair had a part to play in the Media General-Young merger, i.e. if they were aggressively going after either or both companies before they decided to merge?

 

Now that we know SBG was going hard for Belo (trying to take it from Gannett after the deal was announced) and was also likely the #2 bidder for Local TV LLC. If Sinclair had successfully got both those groups, they would have 201 stations right now assuming all deals were approved.

[tyrannical bastard 3953]

 

The two others are WVMH's WOWK (CBS) & Lockwood's WQCW (CW). So it wouldn't be a full market takeover, that would be pretty close.

 

WOWK lags FAR behind WCHS....which is a distant second to WSAZ. It wouldn't surprise me to see if they still scored double digit ratings.

 

 

And if Sinclair dared to pursue LIN.....Mobile-Pensacola would be out of the question as such an arrangement would only leave WKRG and consist of SIX stations...FOUR of them based out of Mobile!