IsitCC? 6 Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Oh, so that's what you two meant by saying WHTM is unprofessional? There's nothing wrong with Brett's behavior IMO. It's a morning newscast, he's trying to loosen up. I actually found that funny. Those three seem to have a good time and are trying to deliver the news while having a good time and showing off their personality which is what viewers expect from them. Even if they get new owners, what's to say they won't retain current management. Some companies do bring in their own people, but others do retain the existing GM/ND. If you guys expect a serious news broadcast: 1) Don't expect one in the morning, and 2) watch another station. Based on Brett alone, if I lived in Harrisburg, I wouldn't mind watching ABC27 News. Even this one? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=405152389601364&set=a.299626520153952.71624.299621396821131 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsitCC? 6 Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 . :ack: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3496 Posted July 26, 2013 Author Share Posted July 26, 2013 It sounds like this is now a horse race between Hearst and Sinclair. I still think that WJLA is going to go separately (to Hearst, most likely) and the rest could very well end up with Sinclair. If Hearst ends up with the entire group, I think WHTM would be safe enough to be run as a separate operation. With WGAL owning the Lancaster/York side of the market, this could be the way to conquer the Harrisburg side of the market. The same logic is why WEAR and WPMI remain separate under Sinclair (since WEAR owns the Florida side of the market and WPMI focuses their energy on the Alabama side). Otherwise, it's new territory for Hearst to set up shop without conflict. If Sinclair buys everything, their only MAJOR conflict is with WHP and WHTM, since both stations are on the Harrisburg side. Whichever station better suits Sinclair could be the winner and the other could be shut down and outsourced. Ratings-wise, WHTM has the upper hand, but Sinclair has been tweaking WHP/WLYH and owns it already...this could be interesting... Otherwise, having another Sinclair outfit in the market would be a chance to provide news programming to their stations that either don't have it or receive it from another station. (i.e. WTAT getting news from WCIV instead of WCSC and 33/40 starting a newscast on WTTO or WABM). Due to the way the frequencies work, each intellectual unit would only make this a triopoly. There's also potential for more growth in Roanoke should Grant go to Sinclair as well... We shall see... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidscooter 3 Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 It sounds like this is now a horse race between Hearst and Sinclair. I still think that WJLA is going to go separately (to Hearst, most likely) and the rest could very well end up with Sinclair. If Hearst ends up with the entire group, I think WHTM would be safe enough to be run as a separate operation. With WGAL owning the Lancaster/York side of the market, this could be the way to conquer the Harrisburg side of the market. The same logic is why WEAR and WPMI remain separate under Sinclair (since WEAR owns the Florida side of the market and WPMI focuses their energy on the Alabama side). Otherwise, it's new territory for Hearst to set up shop without conflict. If Sinclair buys everything, their only MAJOR conflict is with WHP and WHTM, since both stations are on the Harrisburg side. Whichever station better suits Sinclair could be the winner and the other could be shut down and outsourced. Ratings-wise, WHTM has the upper hand, but Sinclair has been tweaking WHP/WLYH and owns it already...this could be interesting... Otherwise, having another Sinclair outfit in the market would be a chance to provide news programming to their stations that either don't have it or receive it from another station. (i.e. WTAT getting news from WCIV instead of WCSC and 33/40 starting a newscast on WTTO or WABM). Due to the way the frequencies work, each intellectual unit would only make this a triopoly. There's also potential for more growth in Roanoke should Grant go to Sinclair as well... We shall see... :bang: If Sinclair buys this group, broadcasting as an industry will be embarrassed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 It sounds like this is now a horse race between Hearst and Sinclair. I still think that WJLA is going to go separately (to Hearst, most likely) and the rest could very well end up with Sinclair. If Hearst ends up with the entire group, I think WHTM would be safe enough to be run as a separate operation. With WGAL owning the Lancaster/York side of the market, this could be the way to conquer the Harrisburg side of the market. The same logic is why WEAR and WPMI remain separate under Sinclair (since WEAR owns the Florida side of the market and WPMI focuses their energy on the Alabama side). Otherwise, it's new territory for Hearst to set up shop without conflict. If Sinclair buys everything, their only MAJOR conflict is with WHP and WHTM, since both stations are on the Harrisburg side. Whichever station better suits Sinclair could be the winner and the other could be shut down and outsourced. Ratings-wise, WHTM has the upper hand, but Sinclair has been tweaking WHP/WLYH and owns it already...this could be interesting... Otherwise, having another Sinclair outfit in the market would be a chance to provide news programming to their stations that either don't have it or receive it from another station. (i.e. WTAT getting news from WCIV instead of WCSC and 33/40 starting a newscast on WTTO or WABM). Due to the way the frequencies work, each intellectual unit would only make this a triopoly. There's also potential for more growth in Roanoke should Grant go to Sinclair as well... We shall see... Good point re: Hearst and market sides, but it still requires a shell for Hearst to acquire WHTM as they are the #1 and #2 stations in the market. A Sinclair purchase would create triopolies in Charleston and Birmingham and a quasi-triopoly (with Nexstar) in the Susquehanna Valley, and the FCC may have some issues there given the Syracuse clearance problem (although that is a quintopoly there). And good point about Grant in Roanoke... If it is Hearst vs. Sinclair, I am hoping those in the Hearst Tower have been reading the trends and are ready to bid high. After missing out on Local TV LLC thanks to Tribune, I am sure Sinclair is very hungry this time...wouldn't it be sweet if that building empire can get a nice reality check? Speaking of them, I wouldn't count Tribune out either - like Hearst, their conflict is in the Susquehanna Valley, but it would be combining the #2 and #4 news groups so that might work better for them. But they seem to be a longshot right now... No matter what, WHTM looks to be entering a conflict - those working there might want to update their resumes now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSSZNews 1046 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 Now that I think of it--if anyone could swing the WHTM situation well, it's Hearst. WCVB and WMUR are both Hearst owned and both technically in the same Nielsen market. Those stations are 45 miles apart though. How far is WGAL vs. WHTM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 Now that I think of it--if anyone could swing the WHTM situation well, it's Hearst. WCVB and WMUR are both Hearst owned and both technically in the same Nielsen market. Those stations are 45 miles apart though. How far is WGAL vs. WHTM? It's about 35 miles from Lancaster to Harrisburg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leavellebrett 85 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 It's about 35 miles from Lancaster to Harrisburg. Now that I think of it--if anyone could swing the WHTM situation well, it's Hearst. WCVB and WMUR are both Hearst owned and both technically in the same Nielsen market. Those stations are 45 miles apart though. How far is WGAL vs. WHTM? That market is so vast. It's comparable to the Altoona/Johnstown market because different stations are dominant in different areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mre29 1347 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 Now that I think of it--if anyone could swing the WHTM situation well, it's Hearst. WCVB and WMUR are both Hearst owned and both technically in the same Nielsen market. Which brings up a good question: Did Hearst have to get any special permission to buy WMUR because it already owned WCVB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3496 Posted July 27, 2013 Author Share Posted July 27, 2013 Which brings up a good question: Did Hearst have to get any special permission to buy WMUR because it already owned WCVB? By the time it happened, duopolies were legal and signal contours were no longer an issue. Since Manchester is part of the Boston DMA, there were plenty of independent voices remaining after Hearst took them in. Plus, being far-flung from Boston, it's likely out of the top 4. Being an ABC affiliate helped as well since both are affiliated with them and serve different parts of the market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 By the time it happened, duopolies were legal and signal contours were no longer an issue. Since Manchester is part of the Boston DMA, there were plenty of independent voices remaining after Hearst took them in. Plus, being far-flung from Boston, it's likely out of the top 4. Being an ABC affiliate helped as well since both are affiliated with them and serve different parts of the market. I believe the top 4 rule made it legal, since WMUR was likely #6 or lower in the whole market. That isn't the case in the Susquehanna Valley since WHTM is #2 in the overall market and Hearst already has WGAL which is #1. Also they could make it appear that WMUR is a semi-satellite of WCVB, although I believe they are completely separate stations with different controls and operations. WHTM is really in the duopoly line right now, since the other two at the top of the race - Sinclair and Tribune - also have stations in the top 4 in that market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mre29 1347 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 Thanks for the information. I guess the FCC has never considered rankings within a specific submarket to be a problem. My final prediction for the Allbritton stations: Hearst gets them, but immediately sells WHTM to a surprise third party (Lin or Meredith). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammertime 0 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 I'll point out one thing that no one has considered. It is unlikely that Hearst could get away with owning the #1 and #2 stations in this market which has been mentioned earlier, they are not big on shelling stations. WGAL could be the one that gets sold off here. First of all, we all know that Hearst is heavily invested in Disney and the abc network. It wouldn't and shouldn't be a huge surprise if they decided to keep WHTM and cash in on WGAL. They'd get more money selling WGAL anyway and there isn't a huge tie to this station as it's only been part of Hearst for 10 years. Before anyone yells about what a "cash cow" WGAL is for Hearst think about the fact that they could be getting WJLA and what WGAL brings in comparatively is a drop in the bucket...chump change really...so in the end after such an acquisition WGAL's no longer as important a factor in their revenue portfolio and they could easily divest the station, building their dominance as an abc centric owner. Plus I'm willing to bet the rev differences between WGAL and WHTM arent that significant. Needless to say this will be fascinating to see how it plays out. Could WGAL actually go to a Nexstar? Maybe even Comcast? Or, cringe, SINCLAIR, which does shell and could potentially get away with this? Clearly Sinclair and many others are still potentials for WHTM. The clock is ticking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susquvalleywgal 497 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 I highly doubt that Hearst would drop WGAL. Again, let's remember a few short months ago, WGAL was the number one rated TV news station in the USA. Number 1. Why would you give up the Cadillac for a Pinto??? -- Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammertime 0 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 That is true, but the same can be said when you go to sell. Which is going to get you more return? Selling the Merecedes or the Volkswagen? Same mileage, same year. And around and around it goes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 I'll point out one thing that no one has considered. It is unlikely that Hearst could get away with owning the #1 and #2 stations in this market which has been mentioned earlier, they are not big on shelling stations. WGAL could be the one that gets sold off here. First of all, we all know that Hearst is heavily invested in Disney and the abc network. It wouldn't and shouldn't be a huge surprise if they decided to keep WHTM and cash in on WGAL. They'd get more money selling WGAL anyway and there isn't a huge tie to this station as it's only been part of Hearst for 10 years. Before anyone yells about what a "cash cow" WGAL is for Hearst think about the fact that they could be getting WJLA and what WGAL brings in comparatively is a drop in the bucket...chump change really...so in the end after such an acquisition WGAL's no longer as important a factor in their revenue portfolio and they could easily divest the station, building their dominance as an abc centric owner. Plus I'm willing to bet the rev differences between WGAL and WHTM arent that significant. Needless to say this will be fascinating to see how it plays out. Could WGAL actually go to a Nexstar? Maybe even Comcast? Or, cringe, SINCLAIR, which does shell and could potentially get away with this? Clearly Sinclair and many others are still potentials for WHTM. The clock is ticking. I really don't think that Hearst would go through all that trouble for WHTM. It's way easier to either, form a shell company to acquire the station or turn around and sell it. I highly doubt that Hearst would drop WGAL. Again, let's remember a few short months ago, WGAL was the number one rated TV news station in the USA. Number 1. Why would you give up the Cadillac for a Pinto??? -- Matt That distinction is deceiving since the market has nowhere near the amount of households/viewers that New York or Los Angeles has. It may be number 1 in the U.S. in terms of the percentage of households that watch WGAL, but in terms of having more viewers than say WABC or even WNBC, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jero23 105 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 NC8 actually did produce a newscast for WDCA in the mid-90's, but it was quickly cancelled. Also, the only other station I've heard of with a weekend noon news is WKYC. Well, you aren't paying much attention. Cox flagship station, Atlanta ABC affiliate, WSB-TV "Channel 2", has produced a weekend noon newscast since the 90s. WSB-TV produces noon newscasts for all 7 days of the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jero23 105 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 You're right (1998 to be exact), but the deal failed to materialize (I don't know why, since I can't read the whole article). But this one involved the entire group (also note that Allbritton also included WJXX and WBSG at the time). I think the purchase price at the time was too high or Disney wasn't willing to pay much for them, I don't know. I think this time around though, they just want WJLA. I don't see networks wanting "small" markets like Harrisburg, Charleston, Tulsa, Little Rock, Birmingham, or Lynchburg/Roanoke. They may not be "small" markets by definition, but they definitely aren't desirable markets. DC, OTOH, is a very lucrative market. Also, note that back then, Disney was under the leadership of Michael Eisner and was a far different company than they are now under Bob Iger. Let's just say their priorities are probably different... All of them are "small" except Birmingham. It is the only 1 aside from Washington that is in the top 50 largest in the nation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leavellebrett 85 Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 I believe the top 4 rule made it legal, since WMUR was likely #6 or lower in the whole market. That isn't the case in the Susquehanna Valley since WHTM is #2 in the overall market and Hearst already has WGAL which is #1. Also they could make it appear that WMUR is a semi-satellite of WCVB, although I believe they are completely separate stations with different controls and operations. WHTM is really in the duopoly line right now, since the other two at the top of the race - Sinclair and Tribune - also have stations in the top 4 in that market. I don't know the rating on WLYH. That's a Nexstar station. If that's top-4 then they may be out and Sinclair may be in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
effseesee 101 Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 If Hearst is the buyer, I'm sure they're looking for any way to keep WHTM in the fold. The two most valuable pieces of this pie, after WJLA, are WHTM and WSET. Both of those stations sit in markets that raked in huge amounts of political ad dollars last cycle, and will likely continue to do so for some time. WGAL may have strong viewership, but if Sinclair gets a hold of both WHP and WHTM, they will bury WGAL financially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4256 Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 NC8 actually did produce a newscast for WDCA in the mid-90's, but it was quickly cancelled. Also, the only other station I've heard of with a weekend noon news is WKYC. WKYC even doesn't have a Saturday noon news anymore, having given that up a few years ago for a spinoff of their infotainment show "Good Company." E/I regs have kept it from returning, as they have to clear all of NBC Kids. WJW actually has an 11am newscast on Sundays, owing to most Fox Sports programming starting at noon; it also serves as a local news wrap-around for Fox News Sunday. They don't have a Saturday midday newscast, though, because of E/I regs and their long-running sketch comedy show with Big Chuck & Lil' John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevieboy247 42 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 I'll be damned. http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/07/29/5062422/sinclair-broadcast-group-announces.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsitCC? 6 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Sinclair Broadcast Group Announces Agreement To Purchase Allbritton TV Stations - WSJ.com http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130729-906004.html Look like Sinclair will be keeping WHTM and sell WHP in Harrisburg. Wow........I'm so speechless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ntropolis 593 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 :party: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3496 Posted July 29, 2013 Author Share Posted July 29, 2013 Not so fast... "To comply with FCC local television ownership rules, Sinclair expects to sell the license and certain related assets of its existing stations in Birmingham, AL - WABM (MNT) and WTTO (CW), Harrisburg/Lancaster/Lebanon/York, PA - WHP (CBS), and Charleston, SC - WMMP (MNT) and to provide sales and other non-programming support services to each of these stations pursuant to customary shared services and joint sales agreements." How are they going to handle Birmingham? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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