Sinclair...Again

[hathawaynson2 39]

 

I was thinking more like KIRO. Seems like a great opportunity to poach some viewers from KOMO (especially if KOMO's on-air product starts to degrade in quality) and finally get out of its third place rut.

 

What do you mean by the On-air product begins to degrade specifically? All I am thinking about they are going to switch to Daily News and horrible graphics that Sinclair Broadcasting Group has for its stations.

[CircleSeven 1955]

What do you mean by the On-air product begins to degrade specifically? All I am thinking about they are going to switch to Daily News and horrible graphics that Sinclair Broadcasting Group has for its stations.

As of now, we haven't heard Daily News on the post-2011 acquired stations as of yet. The only one from that 100 plus stations that received those graphics was WTVC, and they still used that Freedom theme tune.

 

If they were wise, they have the money to buy stations left and right. They have the capital to go hire a graphic firm, or go to a music firm and standardize a new theme. The problem is where you have more than one station, you probably have to composed two themes. My point is, invest into the stations, not do this compulsive buying.

 

Now check this out. Wait until the UHF Discount is officially gone, when that R&O gets issued. And then watch when all those station group firms like those devils are going to ask the FCC to raise the cap higher than 39%. Good luck trying to convince them to do that, while the same folks that's about to get rid of your discount. :lol: :rofl!:

[CircleSeven 1955]

So the first full day since the FCC reopen its website and here's the rest of the consummation notices of the Titan stations now came up.

 

KPTH already had the notice prior to the shutdown. KMPH, KFRE, KPTM, and oh yes, KDBC is were all consummated October 1.

 

Now lets see if KDBC & KFOX will get that brand new building they stated back in the spring.

[TVIntheDesert 183]

 

And you know how Gannett tries to cutback too. They might hire but, they might have to trim the fat meat too. Just sayin'. If the Deathstar have those keys, let's hope they won't be like those dirty devils of Maryland.

 

But nothing will happen until the FCC greenlights it, and that alone still could be eons away. I wouldn't be shocked if we go past the start of 2014 before we see the light turning green.

 

Belo has let the axe fall at KING and other stations, and especially at KTVK over its 14-year ownership run. That's because KTVK had a very big staff when it was locally-owned. There are some similarities to Gannett and Sinclair, I just don't hear the horror stories with Gannett.

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

What do you mean by the On-air product begins to degrade specifically? All I am thinking about they are going to switch to Daily News and horrible graphics that Sinclair Broadcasting Group has for its stations.

 

Depends on how much and how deep they're cutting. If they are going to be cutting so much that it hurts their newsgathering abilities and makes their newscast look more like their newscasts in Columbus and Dayton and less like a big-market newscast in Seattle, viewers might notice.

 

 

 

If they were wise, they have the money to buy stations left and right. They have the capital to go hire a graphic firm, or go to a music firm and standardize a new theme. The problem is where you have more than one station, you probably have to composed two themes. My point is, invest into the stations, not do this compulsive buying.

 

 

And that's probably one of my biggest problems with Sinclair. Nexstar does something similar but they don't get criticized as much because they actually invest in their stations and most of their newscasts look fairly decent. Sinclair seems to put more effort into their political programming than their actual newscasts.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

Depends on how much and how deep they're cutting. If they are going to be cutting so much that it hurts their newsgathering abilities and makes their newscast look more like their newscasts in Columbus and Dayton and less like a big-market newscast in Seattle, viewers might notice.

 

No comparison.

 

Although Dayton has kind of a skeleton crew, Columbus is a respectable operation. Columbus has a decent newscast and plenty of talent. WTTE gets great ratings at 10 pm and the 11 pm newscast is now replayed at midnight on WWHO. They are a little light on anchor talent, but the rest of the operation, believe it or not, is reasonably solid. Their crew skews a bit on the young side, but they are okay. I'm not saying they are a KOMO or WBNS or WTHR-level newscast, but they are still very respectable.

 

Mike Kelley is a solid addition to the weather staff. They need better people for their second-stringers, though.

 

OTOH, WKEF is barely a news operation, but my understanding is that they still win some of the 11 pm time slots depending on their lead-in. Jack Atherton from WLWT, Mike Kallmeyer from WBNS/ONN and that lady from WCHS have been good additions to their staff.

 

WSYX used to simulcast the Buckeye Football Fever show on WKEF. I wonder why they don't do that anymore. I would think there is enough interest in the Dayton-Springfield (especially Springfield) area that I think they could stick it on a subchannel and get some viewership. A station that is so weak shouldn't be afraid of some counter-programming moves like that. Especially something regional and especially something on Saturday, which has always been a television wasteland.

 

 

 

 

And that's probably one of my biggest problems with Sinclair. Nexstar does something similar but they don't get criticized as much because they actually invest in their stations and most of their newscasts look fairly decent. Sinclair seems to put more effort into their political programming than their actual newscasts.

 

 

Though their Chyrons suck, the weather graphics aren't bad and I like their music. It's upbeat and it rocks. They have a lot of great-sounding cuts in that package - very pop. Nothing wrong with Sinclair's music.

 

But then again, you guys hated the old Media General music package. I liked that one too - far better than the current package.

[tyrannical bastard 3953]

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-359103/

 

Here's WSJ's take on the "sidecar" companies that Sinclair works with...

 

And we see where Stephen Mumblow got the names "Manhan" and "Deerfield" from....they're names of rivers near a Christmas tree farm he owns!

(the Manhan and Deerfield Rivers are both branches of the Connecticut River and flow through parts of Massachusetts and Vermont)

[channel2 979]

That's behind their paywall.

[sanewsguy 511]

 

That's behind their paywall.

 

Google "Sinclair Draws Scrutiny Over Growth Tactic" and you should be able to read the article.

 

Interesting read...

[GoldenShine9 1513]

I think as soon as we found out they tried to snatch away Belo from Gannett in the voting stage was the last straw and the move that made it especially clear that Sinclair is not being strategic, but trying to gain everything in sight and willing to create even more shells to do so. They could easily have 39 more stations than they do now had they not been outbid by Tribune for Local TV and had they successfully snared away Belo from Gannett.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

Google "Sinclair Draws Scrutiny Over Growth Tactic" and you should be able to read the article.

 

Interesting read...

 

Very interesting indeed.

 

I'm a little uncomfortable with one operation controlling three signals in this market, but at the end of the day do you penalize them for being smart and aggressive? The other two operations had the same ability to form a duopoly, In fact, WCMH did have one of the nation's first duopolies with WWHO and it was abandoned by NBC. Also, WWHO may as well not exist - it is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned.

 

At the end of the day, I don't think you penalize people for being innovative. Innovation is the American way and, yes, this is considered innovation.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

I think as soon as we found out they tried to snatch away Belo from Gannett in the voting stage was the last straw and the move that made it especially clear that Sinclair is not being strategic, but trying to gain everything in sight and willing to create even more shells to do so. They could easily have 39 more stations than they do now had they not been outbid by Tribune for Local TV and had they successfully snared away Belo from Gannett.

 

How is that different from Gannett owning newspapers all over the place, or Time Warner having cable systems all over the place?

[Breaking News 829]

Newsblues Headlines 10.21.13

Latest rumor: Sinclair to operate Disney ABC O&Os

 

God No! The Smith Bros would relish this and hope ABC has a brain not go there.

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

Newsblues Headlines 10.21.13

Latest rumor: Sinclair to operate Disney ABC O&Os

 

God No! The Smith Bros would relish this and hope ABC has a brain not go there.

 

If Sinclair does that, they'll literally spend themselves into oblivion with that acquisition.

 

(I Don't buy it though)

[Breaking News 829]

Here an article from WSJ on tvspy.com about Sinclair and them getting too big!

 

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/wsj-sinclair-broadcast-groups-sidecar-agreemements-draw-scrutiny_b107054#more-107054

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

Google "Sinclair Draws Scrutiny Over Growth Tactic" and you should be able to read the article.

 

Interesting read...

 

Looks like "Sidecar" is the new term people want to use since Sinclair told us that using the word "shell" hurt their feelings.

 

This quote had me in stitches

 

 

Sinclair's Mr. Smith says that FCC ownership rules are "crystal clear" and that Sinclair obeys them. "I can walk right up to that line and look right at that line," he says. "I have no hesitation about doing that—philosophically, intellectually or otherwise."

I have no doubt that Sinclair is following the FCC ownership rules. But the reason for that is because they are so weak that apparently one station group can control another station on almost every single facet of it as long as that second station was owned by someone else. The line is on the other side of the room next to the wall, that's why he can walk right up to it and look at it.

 

Why Sinclair keeps trying to deny something that is pretty much obvious to the rest of us is beyond me, but it's pretty absurd watching Sinclair pretend that Cunningham, Deerfield, etc. run independent of one another.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

Looks like "Sidecar" is the new term people want to use since Sinclair told us that using the word "shell" hurt their feelings.

 

Remember, we live in a world where we can't use handicapped and Redskin for fear of offending someone. I just read an article about a Greek kidnapping and they're now calling gypsies "Roma." And let's not forget to mention that illegal aliens are now "undocumented immigrants," which is an insult to LEGAL immigrants like my grandparents who were separated for 13 years in the aftermath of WWII because they followed the law. I guess granny should have just come here and camped out until they made her legal.

 

Sidecar is the new politically correct term!

 

 

 

I have no doubt that Sinclair is following the FCC ownership rules. But the reason for that is because they are so weak that apparently one station group can control another station on almost every single facet of it as long as that second station was owned by someone else.

 

Why Sinclair keeps trying to deny something that is pretty much obvious to the rest of us is beyond me, but it's pretty absurd watching Sinclair pretend that Cunningham, Deerfield, etc. run independent of one another.

 

 

Does it really harm anybody to have a CW, My Net or even a Fox station co-owned with a network station?

 

WPGH was a pretty good independent station and they couldn't sustain a news operation. WTTE had kind of so-so news operation until they were able to beef things up by merging with WSYX.

 

I think I do start to care when news departments are folded into one, but if that business is becoming financially unsustainable then that's the way it works.

 

Anybody who wasn't a business major should google the "business life cycle". You name the business, from auto manufacturing to department stores, when the business is new there are literally hundreds of competitors. As the business matures, most of them fall by the wayside and you are only left with relatively few competitors.

 

Remember back in the old days when everybody had a local department store? Here it was Lazarus, in Cleveland it was Higbees, in Chicago it was Marshall Fields, etc. Most cities had several department stores. Nowadays, all those department stores are Macy's which is really Lazarus/Federated taking the Macy's name after it bought out Macy's. Likewise with the Big 3 automakers, which got rid of LaSalle, Desoto, Plymouth, Mercury, Edsel, Rambler, Pontiac and Oldsmobile.

 

Think of Sinclair as Macy's or General Motors because that's what's going on here. It's just the way things are.

[Samantha 2895]

The business relationships between Sinclair and its sidecars are very strange:

• "Sinclair keeps WTTE’s ad revenue and retransmission fees while providing 'programming, sales and managerial services,' and it provides programming and commercials on WTTE for all but two hours a week." Two hours a week.
  
• "Carolyn Cunningham Smith, the Sinclair CEO’s mother, had voting control of Cunningham until she died last year. Cunningham has applied to transfer voting control to a former banker to Mr. Smith, Michael Anderson, who says he has effective voting control while the request is pending." ... "Manhan [and Deerfield are] controlled by Stephen Mumblow, a former banker to Sinclair’s Mr. Smith who later went into broadcasting." Another layer of the conflict of interest for Mumblow and Anderson; they once were bankers to Smith.
  
• "Glencairn later changed its name to Cunningham, a family name with rich resonance for Mr. Smith. Among his holdings is a group of Baltimore restaurants that get supplies from his Cunningham Farms, located on a 200-acre estate, Cunningham Manor." — So that's where Cunningham comes from. Christmas tree farms and a 200-acre estate.
  
• "Sinclair guaranteed loans for Cunningham’s acquisitions, filings show—something FCC rules allow. Sinclair owns most assets at Cunningham stations, such as buildings and equipment, other than the broadcast licenses." ... "Sinclair is similarly intertwined with Manhan and Deerfield, owned by Mr. Mumblow."
  
• "Sinclair guarantees Deerfield’s debt and consolidates Deerfield’s results on its balance sheet." (They do the same with Cunningham.) In effect Deerfield is a part of Sinclair even financially as Sinclair guarantees its debt and manages its finances.
  
• "There is a closeness between Howard Stirk and Sinclair because David Smith is one of my best friends in the world." — Armstrong Williams
  

I feel that these quotes shed a lot of light on how SBGI relates to its sidecars, which are managed by relatives, bankers and friends; consolidated into its financial reporting and structure; and provide precious little to the stations they actually own.

[CircleSeven 1955]

Here's more of how those sham farms are. That devil bought that 200-acre land and named it Cunningham Farms, after his now late mother's Maiden name. The Christmas Tree farms, that's Mumblow's.

[hathawaynson2 39]

Here's more of how those sham farms are. That devil bought that 200-acre land and named it Cunningham Farms, after his now late mother's Maiden name. The Christmas Tree farms, that's Mumblow's.

by the way the restaurant name is Cunningham's as well.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

How is that different from Gannett owning newspapers all over the place, or Time Warner having cable systems all over the place?

 

At least TimeWarner spun off their cable company a few years back. It's no longer connected to the entertainment giant, and hasn't been for awhile. TimeWarner is also no longer in the music and book business, either.

 

Comcast never was forced to spin off their cable company when they got a rubber-stamp approval and "aw, shucks" approach from the FCC and FTC. The only thing they had to spin off was an ownership stake in Hulu.

 

But Canadian media is far worse, where the big cable providers - Shaw, Bell and Rogers - are also established mega-conglomerates in their own right (Bell still has legacy phone service dating back to their days as the confederation's phone monopoly.)

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

At least TimeWarner spun off their cable company a few years back. It's no longer connected to the entertainment giant, and hasn't been for awhile. TimeWarner is also no longer in the music and book business, either.

 

Comcast never was forced to spin off their cable company when they got a rubber-stamp approval and "aw, shucks" approach from the FCC and FTC. The only thing they had to spin off was an ownership stake in Hulu.

 

But Canadian media is far worse, where the big cable providers - Shaw, Bell and Rogers - are also established mega-conglomerates in their own right (Bell still has legacy phone service dating back to their days as the confederation's phone monopoly.)

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of big corporations myself. I tend to like smaller companies that are more quick on their feet and are more creative. Everything gets big from automakers to retail. Retail is no longer a merchandising game as much as it is about technology and distribution. My only point is that the TV business is driven by the same factors. Partly driven by Wall Street, partly because they are forced to look for ways to be more efficient. You can't blame Sinclair for turning itself into the General Motors of the local TV industry.

[channel2 979]

 

At least TimeWarner spun off their cable company a few years back. It's no longer connected to the entertainment giant, and hasn't been for awhile. TimeWarner is also no longer in the music and book business, either.

 

Comcast never was forced to spin off their cable company when they got a rubber-stamp approval and "aw, shucks" approach from the FCC and FTC. The only thing they had to spin off was an ownership stake in Hulu.

 

But Canadian media is far worse, where the big cable providers - Shaw, Bell and Rogers - are also established mega-conglomerates in their own right (Bell still has legacy phone service dating back to their days as the confederation's phone monopoly.)

 

And Shaw has a "sidecar" of its own, in Corus Entertainment (which Shaw used to own outright and had to spin off in 1999).

[broadcastfan9751 140]

Sinclair has issued a press release responding to what it calls an "inaccurate and irresponsible report" by "the so-called public interest group" Free Press that is says misrepresents not only the completely legal actions by numerous broadcasting companies, but also the impact of such structures on news coverage in local markets.

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

Sinclair has issued a press release responding to what it calls an "inaccurate and irresponsible report" by "the so-called public interest group" Free Press that is says misrepresents not only the completely legal actions by numerous broadcasting companies, but also the impact of such structures on news coverage in local markets.

 

The fact that Sinclair is reacting so strongly to these claims is very telling.

 

(I personally don't think they are breaking any laws because the laws are full of so many loopholes it makes it weak and pointless)