Allbritton could be selling too.......

[TVIntheDesert 183]

 

Remember News Central? That's likely what News Channel 8 will become when Sinclair's done with it.

 

And you thought Fox News was biased.

 

Time for Sinclair to invest in the fledgling "One America News Network" to obtain a national conservative news platform with the resources of NC8?

[GoldenShine9 1509]

 

Sadly can't say I'm surprised. Sinclair seemed liked the leading candidate after their (assuming) big loss for Local TV. Really the only hope I had was for ABC and WJLA but they obviously weren't as interested as many of us hoped.

 

Needless to say WJLA has by far the most to lose, as their news department will be significantly transformed and probably widely trimmed in the coming months when the sale goes through. Sinclair getting in the DC market must be their version of heaven. WHTM and WHP's pending bloodletting seems a foregone conclusion and the reaction at those stations is already publicly angry which is very telling.

 

If there's any good news, I agree with TennTV83 that for the rest of these stations, there probably won't be massive changes for a while. In Birmingham, 33/40 might be at risk of seeing some of their long-time and very popular talent being let go to trim the budget, which will surely have WBRC and WIAT waiting to snatch them up, but I'm not sure on that. Sinclair might see Birmingham as a market to build commitment.

 

If Media General is smart and wants to rebuild WVTM, they should hire James Spann right away and use that as a starting point.

 

With WHTM-WHP merging, conventional wisdom would suggest that it is Hearst and WGAL that would benefit the most. But since they are already #1 in the market by a wide margin, I think WPMT (Tribune) benefits the most. They could pool up with WNEP and become a strong operation. Maybe they will end up #2 in the end?

[mike91 66]

Not surprised at all, but still maddened. When is enough going to be enough for them? This is horrible for all the markets, especially DC. I imagine down the road we will see some of the long tenured personnel at WJLA and other Sinclair stations "retire".

Also, the fact that they already have a ton of debt to begin with and they are going out and spending even more makes me wonder about the future of the company. Can they stay afloat with such high debt? What happens to the industry if the shit hits the fan and Sinclair goes under?

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

Not surprised at all, but still maddened. When is enough going to be enough for them? This is horrible for all the markets, especially DC. I imagine down the road we will see some of the long tenured personnel at WJLA and other Sinclair stations "retire".

Also, the fact that they already have a ton of debt to begin with and they are going out and spending even more makes me wonder about the future of the company. Can they stay afloat with such high debt? What happens to the industry if the shit hits the fan and Sinclair goes under?

 

That's what I'm wondering too. Sinclair's spending binge is going to catch up with them, it's just going to be a matter of who will be there to pick up the pieces.

[MidwestTV 1174]

 

That's what I'm wondering too. Sinclair's spending binge is going to catch up with them, it's just going to be a matter of who will be there to pick up the pieces.

 

No one, I bet you. The real question to me though is WHEN this binge will catch up to them!

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

No one, I bet you. The real question to me though is WHEN this binge will catch up to them!

 

So what would happen to these stations if Sinclair hypothetically went into bankruptcy?

[A3N 996]

 

So what would happen to these stations if Sinclair hypothetically went into bankruptcy?

 

they'll auction them off. On a side note, would it be out of the realm of possibility that Sinclair sells WJLA to ABC? Albittron did not want to separate the group because of tax purposes, but I assume Sinclair wouldn't have that same tax issue since they aren't selling the whole group.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

they'll auction them off. On a side note, would it be out of the realm of possibility that Sinclair sells WJLA to ABC? Albittron did not want to separate the group because of tax purposes, but I assume Sinclair wouldn't have that same tax issue since they aren't selling the whole group.

 

Unless Sinclair is strapped for cash and desperate to survive I doubt it.

 

I think Sinclair is treating WJLA and NC8 as the crown jewels in this acquisition.

 

Basically, the only way ABC would get WJLA now is if Sinclair went under and WJLA was for sale at a fire-sale price. And even then ABC still might not fork out the money for it.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

I'll be damned.

 

http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/07/29/5062422/sinclair-broadcast-group-announces.html

 

I am speechless. Nothing I can really say.

 

Although what's probably making me more angry than Sinclair buying Allbritton is some of the lies people are saying about Sinclair like this one:

 

The Allbritton stations (except for the flagship WJLA) are in pretty politically-conservative markets, so things may not change much with the stations, except the new "Fox News tilt" in their local news.

 

I truly hate to be blunt but this person clearly does not watch local news on a Sinclair station. I've seen very liberal news coverage on Sinclair stations and very moderate coverage as well as conservative coverage. It all depends on how the local news departments choose to handle that. I don't think DC is going to get away with burying the corporate stuff on the least watched days of the week or playing "Ring of Honor" overnight at 3AM so nobody will watch like they do here in SA. But the other markets probably will. KABB buries all of that stuff and if you watch on a typical night they have got to be one of the more middle of the road newscasts I've seen. Sometimes they even tend to be liberal, even from a Fox affiliate.

 

The way the corporate-mandated stuff work (from what I've heard) is basically some guy in corporate sends the stations a list of material via email that they have to air, and they have to air on a certain date, although KABB asks (and usually gets) permission to air "Waste Watch" and "Behind the Headlines" on Saturday nights. Sinclair head honchos probably aren't realizing that Saturday night is the lowest-rated night of the week for news.

 

And to be honest, I'm not upset over Sinclair getting any bigger, that doesn't bother me at all (well, then again, I live in Clear Channel's home city. What am I talking about?). The reason I'm upset is because I'm afraid Sinclair isn't going to make the necessary investments needed for WJLA. I'm shocked that people are already speculating that these personalities who work at the Allbritton stations like James Spann will leave when Sinclair takes over. I don't think so. Most of these people are just happy they have a job. They couldn't care less if Sinclair owned them. Pay is another issue. Sinclair hasn't had a chance to renegotiate contracts at WOAI yet but once they do, people will probably bolt because of that.

 

And then there are people speculating ratings will drop because Sinclair owns them. Average Joe doesn't care Sinclair owns them and most people probably don't know who owns their local station. Sinclair will maintain status quo at their stations, that's how they are.

 

And Sinclair won't fail no matter what you guys are saying. Most likely the Smith family will just take the company private or they will team up with some private equity group to take over the company. And those shell companies? If the FCC and Congress abolished those outdated FCC rules where owners can't own more than two stations in a market, there wouldn't need a for them.

 

End of story.

 

[skbl17 188]

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Everywhere you look, it's all Sinclair acquires this, Sinclair acquires that. Ownership caps? No problem; the shill companies should be enough. The FCC holds the cards now, but I don't have much faith in an outright rejection of this acquisition, just the transfer of some stations to the shills to remain within ownership "limits". How does Sinclair get all of this money, anyway? :bang: To be blunt, the primary (but not the only) reason why I even care about Allbritton's acquisition by Sinclair is ABC 33/40's weather operation. The station (despite the parent company going uber-cheap on the HD launch and new set) has made major strides into its weather presentation: including

(during a move of the station's weather equipment,) a widely-read weather blog, an extensive camera network, use of Ustream and extensive use of social media (Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Google+...) during severe weather outbreaks. Would Sinclair allow all of that to continue? I can't say no, but I'm not so sure if "yes" would be such a good answer either.

 

I've also seen that Sinclair has dropped hints that Newschannel 8 could be remolded into a national news network. I say the network will either fail (or come close to failure) or become a carbon copy of Fox News, which would not be good for Sinclair or Fox News imo.

 

Finally, I don't think that Sinclair itself will fail, but could become more like Clear Channel in the direction it's going.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

The reason I'm upset is because I'm afraid Sinclair isn't going to make the necessary investments needed for WJLA.

 

The thing to consider is this is Sinclair's first time in a Top 10 market. WJLA's competitors have much deeper pockets than stations like WSYX, WKEF, etc.

 

If Sinclair starts to cheap out on WJLA like they do with their other stations, the competition is going to crush them.

 

And Sinclair won't fail no matter what you guys are saying. Most likely the Smith family will just take the company private or they will team up with some private equity group to take over the company.

 

 

The thing that gets me is that Sinclair almost declared bankruptcy a few years back because the debt got to be too much for them, so now that they finally got the debt issue resolved, they're going to take on more debt?

 

I know their strategy is to try to generate enough revenue at these stations to help pay off the debt, I just wonder if it's a smart strategy considering the scale they're doing it with.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

Finally, I don't think that Sinclair itself will fail, but could become more like Clear Channel in the direction it's going.

 

Isn't Clear Channel running into financial problems themselves?

[GoldenShine9 1509]

 

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Everywhere you look, it's all Sinclair acquires this, Sinclair acquires that. Ownership caps? No problem; the shill companies should be enough. The FCC holds the cards now, but I don't have much faith in an outright rejection of this acquisition, just the transfer of some stations to the shills to remain within ownership "limits". How does Sinclair get all of this money, anyway? :bang: To be blunt, the primary (but not the only) reason why I even care about Allbritton's acquisition by Sinclair is ABC 33/40's weather operation. The station (despite the parent company going uber-cheap on the HD launch and new set) has made major strides into its weather presentation: including

(during a move of the station's weather equipment,) a widely-read weather blog, an extensive camera network, use of Ustream and extensive use of social media (Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Google+...) during severe weather outbreaks. Would Sinclair allow all of that to continue? I can't say no, but I'm not so sure if "yes" would be such a good answer either.

 

I've also seen that Sinclair has dropped hints that Newschannel 8 could be remolded into a national news network. I say the network will either fail (or come close to failure) or become a carbon copy of Fox News, which would not be good for Sinclair or Fox News imo.

 

Finally, I don't think that Sinclair itself will fail, but could become more like Clear Channel in the direction it's going.

 

If Sinclair shuts those all down at 33/40, most likely another station in the market will pick up the slack. I think Media General could be the big winner here - they have 3 stations in Allbritton markets and none are rated very high (compared to some of their top stations). If they put effort, they could make up huge ground. Such is especially true with WSLS, adjacent to their soon-to-be-flagship and with the #1 station in that market (WDBJ) not having a very stable owner either.

[Daybreak 270]

Well since Sinclair already owns the Fox station in Charleston, it's safe to say they are going to either combine WCIV and Fox or sale the Fox station. WCIV has been the station in last place for a while so this could potentially be good for them. With WCBD being half of what it use too and also powerhouse WCSC are going through some lucrative things as well WCIV might become more competitive. I always said that Allbritton never treated any of its stations right but WJLA. I really going to give Sinclair a chance to see what they do before I just put them up for failure with this transaction. And for all we know this sale might not go through with the FCC but I guess we have to wait and see.

[cg41386 131]

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.

I think WPVI Philadelphia still has a Sunday noon newscast.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

According to an article from an Arlington, VA-based site, NO ONE is happy there. Most at WJLA are absolutely disgusted. They're expecting massive cuts.

[mre29 1347]

Wow. Does money grow on trees at Sinclair's corporate headquarters or something?

 

I'll amend appropriately what I think I said in another thread: If the FCC approves Sinclair's purchases of the Fisher and Albritton stations but denies Gannett's purchase of Belo, there WILL be lawsuits.

[ToriElectra 291]

We need to somehow bring Sinclair down. The FCC isn't doing anything, so now we need to do the job ourselves. What do you think we should do?

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

We need to somehow bring Sinclair down. The FCC isn't doing anything, so now we need to do the job ourselves. What do you think we should do?

 

I think the only thing to do is sit back and wait. I don't think Sinclair has any clear strategy outside of "buy every single TV station possible" and ultimately I think this strategy is setting themselves up for failure.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

 

Wow. Does money grow on trees at Sinclair's corporate headquarters or something?

 

I'll amend appropriately what I think I said in another thread: If the FCC approves Sinclair's purchases of the Fisher and Albritton stations but denies Gannett's purchase of Belo, there WILL be lawsuits.

 

Gannett + Belo, in terms of number of stations, is less than one-third the size of Sinclair after all their sales are done (assuming no more). I don't see Gannett being aggressive either with additional sales; I don't think they even considered bidding for Allbritton (or Local TV for that matter).

[tyrannical bastard 3496]

Now that Allbritton is awaiting to be sold to Sinclair, perhaps it's time to change the title of this thread...

[detroiter313 178]

What is Sinclair's *evil* intent when purchasing station groups, including Allbritton??

[tyrannical bastard 3496]

Getting NewsChannel 8 could be Sinclair's meal ticket to regional cable channels....that is, if they play nice with the cable companies involved and don't burn their bridges with retransmission consent revenue standoffs.

 

It's also a way to "vent" more about government issues without involving broadcast television. I wouldn't be surprised to see A LOT of Mark Hyman, Christine Frazao and Armstrong Williams on NewsChannel 8 once they take it over.

 

In Ohio, they could sort of resurrect the Ohio News Network that Dispatch shut down. Sinclair has affiliates in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Steubenville, and soon in Toledo. If they can work out a deal with Time Warner, then they'll have a cable channel that will blanket the state of Ohio again, and have much more clout than Dispatch ever did trying to run ONN. The only thing is lacking stations in Cleveland and Youngstown. Cleveland is out of the question with Tribune picking up WJW but if WFMJ ever decided to sell....

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

Getting NewsChannel 8 could be Sinclair's meal ticket to regional cable channels....that is, if they play nice with the cable companies involved and don't burn their bridges with retransmission consent revenue standoffs.

 

It's also a way to "vent" more about government issues without involving broadcast television. I wouldn't be surprised to see A LOT of Mark Hyman, Christine Frazao and Armstrong Williams on NewsChannel 8 once they take it over.

 

In Ohio, they could sort of resurrect the Ohio News Network that Dispatch shut down. Sinclair has affiliates in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Steubenville, and soon in Toledo. If they can work out a deal with Time Warner, then they'll have a cable channel that will blanket the state of Ohio again, and have much more clout than Dispatch ever did trying to run ONN. The only thing is lacking stations in Cleveland and Youngstown. Cleveland is out of the question with Tribune picking up WJW but if WFMJ ever decided to sell....

 

I think the cable news strategy is ultimately what is going to set Sinclair up for failure. Do they really think they can compete against the other cable news stations without spending a lot of money for it?

[Rusty Muck 4256]

 

What is Sinclair's *evil* intent when purchasing station groups, including Allbritton??

 

I don't think it's inherently evil. It's just a replay of the radio consolidation of the late 1990s, when groups all merged with each other in buying sprees. Clear Channel has been in debt up to their eyeballs for well over a decade, has hemorrhaged employees on annual firing sprees and set the whole medium back for generations to come.

 

Sinclair is destined to become one of those "too big to fail" companies.